The God, the King and the Hero-Wannabe
by Tashasaurous
Summary: "Set within the SM Continuum Universe"-Set before, during and after the events of "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep"; Tells the tale of the adventures of Hercules, Mickey Mouse and Zack Fair one year before the events of "Kingdom Hearts: Crisis Core"-Heavily based on the film "Hercules" to celebrate it's 20th Anniversary. COMPLETED!
1. CHAPTER 1: Birth of a New God

_**The God, the King and the Hero-Wannabe.**_

 **Author's Note: Since the 20th Anniversary of the release of Hercules is this coming Tuesday, I was struggling to either update Kingdom Hearts: Before Crisis or Kingdom Hearts III: Second War, or start this up, I've finally admitted defeat and gone for this which, while following the storyline of the film, is set within Sailor Moon Continuum, set one year before the events of Kingdom Hearts: Crisis Core.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 1: Birth of a New God.**

Long ago, in a world of ancient Greece that lived in the golden age of powerful gods and extraordinary heroes. And the greatest and strongest of all these heroes was the mighty Hercules. Though the question was what the measures of being a true hero. Well, for one thing, he wasn't alone, and there were other heroes in other worlds who had their own tales. But this story-

"Would you listen to this girl?" A voice asked irritably cutting in.

Huh, what?

Four women on the vase of Hercules fighting against a lion came to life. They were the Muses. The voice came from the short tubby woman, Thalia, who continued as she took the mask from Melepomene and puts it on in a dramatic gesture, continuing, clearly very annoyed, "She's making the story sound like some greek tragedy."

I am not!

"Lighten up, sis!" Said Terpsichore, agreeing with Thalia, while Melepomene took her mask back from the shortest woman in annoyance.

Hoping to avoid any arguments, the tallest woman of the five, Calliope, spoke up, "We'll take it from here, sweetheart."

Uh...okay. Be my guest. So...just ignore me and we'll continue on, shall we?

The four Muses gazed their gaze at the readers/viewers, with Calliope beginning as she introduced herself and her fellow Muses, "We are the Muses. Goddesses of the Arts, and proclaimers of heroes!"

"Heroes like Hercules." Terpsichore added, as she took a leaf close to her and fanned herself, feeling the heat of romance.

"Honey, you mean _'Hunk-ules'_!" Thalia grinned, before sliding down to the picture of Hercules as though she was up close to the real thing, muttering as she is madly in love, "Woo-oo, I'd like to make some sweet music with-" before humming.

" _Our story_ ," Calliope said sharply while glaring at Thalia, before resuming her calm position as she turned her back to the audience, "Actually begins long before Hercules...many eons ago."

She moved her hand so that the lining part of the vase turned into stairs, before the three of them began dancing their way down to begin narrating in their own style, with Calliope continuing, " _~Back when the world was new~_ "

Thalia caught and realise that she was left behind, yelping, "Whoa!" and quickly dashed after her friends before joining the dance, while Calliope continued, not paying attention, " _The Entire World was down on its luck  
And Everywhere, Gigantic brutes called Titans  
Ran Amok~_"

They past a moving vase of a volcano titan, an ice titan, an rock titan, and a tornado titan. Parts of the vases shattered from the pots and broke into several pieces onto the ground, and Thalia flinched out of the way to avoid in getting hit, continuing, while tip-toing her way to avoid in breaking anymore of the pottery, " _~It was a nasty place!  
There was a mess wherever you stepped_."

"~ _Where chaos reigned  
And earthquake and volcanoes never slept.~_" Calliope continued, all five of them lining up, knowing what was coming up next.

"Whoo! Say it, girlfriend!" Thalia told her.

Soon all four of them sang, " _~And then along came Zeus~_ " while They past a moving vase of a man with black hair, blue eyes, and a mustache, who wore a white coat with blue pants and gold boots. He then held up a thunderbolt and shot it at the Titans, as the ground broke underneath them and they fell in a small hole, before Zeus zapped another lightning bolt to make it into a cage, where they would remain forever trapped.

" _~He hurled his thunderbolts, He zapped! Locked those suckers in a vault!  
They're trapped! And on his own stopped chaos in its tracks! And that's the gospel truth! The guy was too type A to just relax!~_" The five of them narrated as they went.

" _~And that's the world's first dish.~_ " Terpsichore continued.

"Yeah, baby!" Thalia grinned.

" _~Zeus tamed the globe while still in his youth.~_ " Terpsichore continued, before she and her friends continued, as they now approached another vase that showed a beautiful scenery of greece, and there, was Mount Olympus.

" _~Though, honey, it may seem imposs'ble, That's the gospel truth! On Mount Olympus life was neat And smooth as sweet vermouth, Although, honey, it may seem imposs'ble, That's the gospel truth!~_ " They concluded as they showed off the area...And here is where the story really begins.

The tale of The God, the King and the Hero-Wanna-Be.

* * *

 _Eleven years before the events of Sailor Moon-0: Birth By Sleep..._

 _ **Realm of Light Time-1977...**_

On the top of the luxurious mountain of Olympus in the golden Utopia of the gods, a celebration was taking place. The reason: A son had been born to the head gods Zeus and Hera. A son they named Hercules. In the crowd of chattering gods, a woman with wavy pink hair and brown eyes was watching over the baby with Zeus who was wearing a purple robe. The woman was Hera, Zeus's wife, the baby's mother and the goddess of marriage. The baby was giggling.

"Hercules!" Hera smiled, before she laughed as her son reaches up and removes her tiara. She then placed it back onto her head as she whispered, "Behave yourself." then placed the baby in a bassinet that materialized in the form of the clouds.

Hercules, had blue eyes and orange hair. He also wore a white silk robe and had an orange glow. Almost immediately, his father, Zeus, appeared above him, smiling happily at his son, "Oh, look at this, look how cute he is." Zeus chuckled. "Hey!"

Zeus then babbled and made silly faces while wriggling his finger which made Hercules laugh before the latter grabbed it and to Zeus's surprise and delight, lifts him up high clear over his crib and holds him there. "Hah! Oh, he's strong! Like his dad." Zeus commented at Hercules' amazing strength.

Just then, the Gods messenger, Hermes who always wore sunglasses and was coloured in glowing blue, flew past the other gods who some of them got a little annoyed despite his polite apology, "Whoa! Excuse me! Hot stuff coming through!" Hermes said, before passing Ares. "Excuse me, one side, Ares."

Eventually he made it to the trio and held out a lovely bouquet of glowing flowers to Hera who smiled warmly at such a wonderful gift, gently take them from the messenger, "Why, Hermes. They're lovely."

"Yeah, you know I had Orpheus do the arrangement. Isn't that too nutty?" Harmes said with a smile. He then flew close to Zeus. "Fabulous party, you know I haven't seen this much love in a room since Narcissus discovered himself!"

Narcissus himself, glowing in purple and quite handsome, was grinning lovingly at...his reflection a hand mirror he was holding, styling his hair before making kissing noises as he made to try and kiss his reflection. In the meantime, Hercules, seeing one of the Lightning Bolts in Zeus's pockets, reached out to grab one and happily began to play with it, much to Hera's chargin.

"Dear!" She scolded at her husband, "Keep those away from the baby."

As Zeus also noticed, he shook his head and told his wife, "Aww, he won't hurt himself. Let the kid have a little fun."

As baby Hercules made to try and eat it, as all babies would try to eat things that aren't food, the moment he put it in his mouth, it shocked him, literally, and fuzzed his hair like an electric socket...Well, he did try to eight the lightning bolt, so it was electric socket...only without the socket part. With a comical shocked(non-literally) expression, he then tossed it aside, sticking his tongue out in frustration and disgust. Three gods jump away from its path, until Athena hits it with her sword so it hits a pillar, which immediately reappears. That had been too close. None the less, everything was fine.

Zeus smiled as Hera held Hercules once more, before the God spoke to the other Gods at the party, "On behalf of my son, I want to thank you all for your wonderful gifts." gesturing at tons of gifts and toys that were given to Baby Hercules; A golden Sword, a Cape of Dreams, a Book that was ever written or would be written, a rocking horse, a Cloud slide, a perfectly working globe with water running as it would in the real world, and a lamp that sprouted a rainbow.

"What about our gift, dear?" Hera asked.

Zeus thought about it, before he had an idea and gazed at the mists that floated around. "Well, let's see here ... we'll take, hmm, yes, a little cirrus, and now hmm, a touch of nimbostratus," as he was saying this, he binds the two pieces of cloud together in a little horse shape, before finally concluding, "And a dash of cumulus." as he put the last piece which made wings.

Zeus held it out to Hercules who made to touch it. The baby was surprised when a baby horse's head popped out, white with blue mane and eyes. The baby new-born Pegasus shook off the rest of the clouds that formed into a real body, as Zeus introduced his son to his gift, "His name is Pegasus, and he's all yours, son."

Pegasus, curious at his new surroundings, sniffed at Hercules and nearly fell off Zeus's hand before the baby horse realised, as his little wings flapped to keep him in the air, that he could fly. Hercules, smiling, bonked his forehead against Baby Pegasus' and laughed. Pegasus whinned happily and licked Hercules who was about to cry, before the baby horse snuggled up against him lovingly. Hercules in return smiled and happily hugged his new found best friend affectionly.

" _Awww._ " The rest of the Gods smiled warmly at the adorable and heart-warming scene.

Hera then handed Hercules to Zeus who suddenly felt himself nervous and afraid that he might hurt the baby, as his wife told him carefully, "Mind his head."

"He's so tiny." Zeus admitted, while Hercules tried to bite his golden medallion that hang around his neck, a medallion that had the symbol of the gods. It wasn't long before the baby felt tired and yawned, and Zeus smiled, playing his son into the cot, "My boy. My little Hercules." Kissing him gently on the head.

"How sentimental." A voice spoke across the room, which made everyone turn to where the voice came from. There in the corner, was Hades, the God of the Underworld and Lord of the Dead, as well as being Zeus's brother. He was a blue skinned man with blue fire on his head as hair. He wore a black robe.

Hades then made a joke, "You know, I haven't been choked up about this since I got a hunk of moussaka lodged in my throat. Huh?" waiting for a laugh, which didn't come. Instead, he gained skeptical looks from most of the party. "So is this an audience or a mosaic?"

He then went to greet the other Gods, saying to the God of Wine, "Hey, how you doin'?" before saying to Aphrodite, gesturing at her outfit, "Lookin' good. Nice dress."

"So Hades," Zeus said smiling as he pulled his brother in an one-arm hug, which made Hades give him a small glare, "You finally made it. How are things in the Underworld?" plonking his hand onto the other god's shoulder.

As Hades removed Zeus's hand, he shrugged, "Well, they're just fine, y'know, a little dark, a little gloomy and as always, hey, full of dead people. What are you going to do?" before noticing the baby behind the latter.

"Ah, there's the little sunspot. Little smootchie." Hades said as he approached the cot, smirking as Hercules woke up to see another new face. The Lord of the Dead then materalized a skull-shaped sucker with spikes, continuing, "And here, is a sucker for the little sucker. Here you go, ya just-"

But as Hades made to put the sucker into the baby's mouth, Hercules grabs his finger instead, squeezing it so tightly that Hades cried out in pain as he felt his finger about to be broken. After a struggle, he finally pulled it free, and winched as his finger had been squeezed so tightly that it was thin as a stick and flopped loosely like a broken stick, "Sheesh!"

Baby Pegasus reacted by giggling at what just happened. Hades cringed while his finger was recovering, muttering in pain and astondment by the fact on how strong the kid was, "Uh...powerful...little tyke."

"Come on, Hades, don't be such a stiff." Zeus said as he threw his arm around Hades again, "Join the celebration."

Hades reacted by ducking his way out of his brother's arm and told him plainly, "Hey...Love to, babe, but unlike you guys lounging about up here, I regrettably have a full time gig, that you, by the way so charitably bestowed on me, _Zeus_. So…can't. Love to, but can't."

As Hades made his way to make his leave, Zeus told him with a suggestion, "You oughta slow down - you'll work yourself to death." before realising he just made a joke that made him begin to laugh hysterically, "Ha! Work yourself to death! Ha!"

That made everyone else(save for Hades) laugh hysterically. Zeus was laughing so hard that he was beginning to have trouble breathing and collasped into a chair that materialized so that he wouldn't hurt himself, pounding the arms and shaking with laughter., "Oh, I kill myself!"

Hades on the other hand, not finding the joke funny and was secretly plotting something that would change everything for everyone's future, just laughed politely, "If only." before sneering at himself secretly, "...If only." making his way back to his domains.

* * *

The Muses, still continuing to re-tell the story, stood next a vase with the picture of Hades in the Underworld riding on a boat over the river Styx in which a skeleton was rowing.

"If there's one god you don't want to get steamed up, it's Hades." Calliope said to the readers.

"Cause he had an evil plan." Terpsichore added.

To which Thalia took over and narrated while singing.

* * *

 _"~He ran the Underworld...But thought the dead was dull and uncouth,~"_

Hades, having came back to what he'd known as home, just leaned against the front of the boat while the skeletion behind him rowed him towards his domain through the river of souls, annoyed and bored. Just then, a couple of dead souls came out from the river and clawed at his robe, much to his disgust.

 _"~He was mean as he was ruthless~_ "

He then immediately blasted them with fire that forced them to let go and sink back into the river, before he turned away and blew his finger to rid the lingering smoke like a pistol.

 _"~And that's the Gospel Truth.~"_

Soon, the gates to the Underworld opened and by the side-shorelines, Cerberus, the three headed giant dog growled at them, to which Hades responded by dully tossing a hunk of steak carelessly to keep his pet busy, in which, while he sailed safely by, Cerberus began a tug of war with it's three heads for the meat.

 _"~He had a plan to set things up, And that's Gospel Truth.~"_

* * *

Finally, making to his skull-shaped domain, Hades got out of the boat before shouting up towards the stairs, agitated, "Pain!"

A stumpy pink devil, named...well, Pain, ran down the stairs, calling, "Coming, your most lugubriousness." before tripping and rolled down the stairs and then gets seated on a sharp trident on his backside, where he screamed, "OW!"

Considering the fact that he's clumsy and always hurts himself...No wonder he's called Pain.

"Panic!" Hades shouted again.

A green, thinner devil, named Panic, came running down the stairs. "Oh! I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "I can handle it!"

But as he did, while Pain managed to free himself and rub his sore bottom, Panic accidently crashed into him, sending the two minions flying before crashing onto the ground and instead of being stuck in a pile, Panic's landed by having his horns get stuck onto Pain's butt at the very same spot the trident was, causing Pain to scream hysterically in agony. This clumsy moment only made Hades roll his eyes. Yep, same old life within the Underworld.

"Pain! Ow..." Pain saluted.

"And Panic! Oh!" Panic saluted.

"Reporting for duty." They said in unison.

"Fine, fine, fine." Hades said calmly, heading up towards the stairs before giving out his orders, "Just let me know the instant the Fates arrive." while Pain pulled Panic out of his butt and puts him down onto the ground.

Suddenly remembering something, Panic replied to his boss, "Oh, they're here."

" _ **WHAT!?**_ " Hades yelled, turning fiery red and yellow in anger as he shouted at the two bumbling idiots, " _ **The Fates are here and you didn't tell me!?**_ "

Terrified, Pain and Panic shuddered before groveling in guilt, saying, "We are worms!" and to demostrate this, they shape-shift so that they really do look like big, ugly worms. "Worthless worms!" and began to cry, letting loose water-works.

"Memo to me, memo to me." Hades rubbed his forehead as he calmed down, moving to leave as he concluded, "Maim you, after my meeting."

Pain and Panic just glanced at each other worriedly. This was why they tried to be careful in not angering their boss; or else they would suffer very severe consenquences.

* * *

In the large carven of the Domain that had a round table that showed the world with miniture models that looked like menopoly pieces, the three Fates were waiting for Hades's arrival. While they waited, they spent that time doing what they always did best.

"Darling, hold that mortal's thread of life good and tight." Said Atropos, the shortest of the three, skin pink and had a single eye. Her sister, the tallest, Clotho, held a thin sting very tightly that it stretched. Atropos, blue skin and two empty eye sockets, then slowly held out a pair of sharp black sissors and...

 _Snip! Twang!_

" _Arrraaaggghhh!_ " A woman's scream echoed all around.

"Incoming!" Lachesis, having green skin and two empty eye sockets like Clotho, called, before all three of them laughed, as an unfortunate soul of a woman came drifting into the chamber, and passed Hades who just watched the soul enter a tunnel were green light was shining from within.

Above the entrance was a toll count, which turned from **5,000,000,000** to **5,000,000,001 served**. That count would never stop and that, in Hades' opinion, was really dull and uncouth. He was sick of doing this 24 hours a day and 7 days a week. Which is why this meeting today was very important to him and despite that it would break all rules, he didn't care.

Then he turned to the Fates and said, "Ladies! Hah! I'm so sorry that I'm—"

"Late." Atropos, Clotho, and Lachesis finished for him together, while Pain and Panic came into the room as well.

"We knew you would be." Clotho said, smugly as she pulled the single eye out of Atropos's eye socket, placing it into her own left eye socket.

"We know everything." Lachesis added.

"Past." Clotho said, before Lachesis took the eye and placed it into her right socket.

"Present." Lachesis continued, before Atropos took the eye back into her single eye socket.

"And future." Atropos concluded, before whispering to a very nervous Panic, "Indoor plumbing...it's gonna be big."

"Great, great." Hades said casually, before he began to get straight to the point, "Anyway, see, ladies, I was at this party and I lost track of-"

"We know." The Fates bragged.

"Yeah, I know you know." Hades said crispy as he walked towards the table that had models of everything, including Mount Olympus and Zeus, continuing, "So...here's the deal. Zeus. Mr. High and Mighty," He quoted the 'Mr. High and Mighty' with four fingers with his hands, continuing, "Mr. _"Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud"_. Now he has a-"

"Bouncing baby brat." The Fates finished for him again, while Lachesis took the eye from Atropos and put back into her right eye-socket as she said, in exasperation, "We know!"

"I KNOW!" Hades snapped as he briefly glowed red again before he recomposed himself out of fear of offending the three people he needed the most. "You know. I know. I got it. I got the concept. So, lemme just ask ... is this kid gonna mess up my hostile take-over bid or what? Whaddaya think?"

"Well..." Lachesis began, only to be silenced by Clotho who grabbed her nose.

"Oh, no you don't." Clotho warned, "We are not supposed to reveal the future."

Hades was clearly annoyed by this response. Fat lotta help they were, he thought. On the other hand, Lachesis seemed eager in wanting to tell him despite what Clotho said, and then he thought of a devious idea to get what he wanted. He was good in plotting schemes with others.

"Wait, sorry, time out, can I ask you a question by the way?" Hades spoke up, approaching Lachesis while gesturing at her wriggly worm-like hair, saying charmingly, "Did you cut your hair, or something? I mean you look fabulous.. I mean, you look like a fate worse then death."

This made Lachesis giggle like a school-girl, which made her sisters so annoyed that Clotho bonked her on the head with fist that caused the eye to pop out...and land right into Panic's hands, unfortunately.

"Oh, gross!" Panic groaned in disgust, handing it over to Pain who was just as disgusting.

"Yuck!" Pain groaned, disgusted as he shoved it away, cringing, "It's blinkin'!" and then kicked it away from him and Panic, where it landed neatly in Hades's hand as he caught it with ease.

"Ladies, please." Hades continued, not fazed at all, or if he was, he was certainly doing a good job in hiding his disgust, handing the eyeball back to Lachesis, "My fate is in your lovely hands."

"Ooh..." Lachesis said, blushing before looking pleadingly at the other two who, seeing this look and knowing that they weren't going to get out of it, gave up in the end.

"Oh, alright." Clotho conceded in annoyance.

Pleased, Lachesis then held out the eye which, under a spell, leviatated on it's own as it began to glow brightly in white light, placing it with, showing everyone in the room the future; first, it showed nine planets lining up in a perfect line, as Lachesis began, " _In 18 years precisely, the planets will align ever so nicely_."

"Ay. Verse. Oy." Hades groaned. What was so special about planets? Sure, he had a fair idea of other worlds beyond the Underworld and Greece. But never once ventured out to them as it was against the rules. Besides, he didn't believe in those stupid myths. Still, he continued to observe the Fates telling him the future.

" _A time to come will be at hand! Unleash the Titans, your monstrous plan_." Lachesis continued, as the eye showed the Titans roaming free and climbing Mount Olympus.

"Mmm-hmm...good, good." Hades commented. So the planet align will reveal the location of the Titan's prison and he can release them? So far, so good. Sounded easy.

" _Then the once proud Zeus will finally fall_." Lachesis continued, " _And you, Hades WILL RULE ALL_!"

Hades saw Zeus disappearing, and himself enlarge, ruling over the entire world. This is definitely liked! "YES! Hades rules!" he yelled, triumpthly.

However, that moment was short-lived as Atropos quickly interjected, " _A word of caution to this tale_ ,"

"'Cuse me?" Hades blinked, now confused and quickly worried. To his shock and horror, his future-self was quickly defeated by what he recongised as an adult Hercules, riding on an adult Pegasus, and with him, were...a young man and...a human-sized mouse with a key-like sword? Yet before that, with the young mouse were three teenagers, each also having key-like swords, a young teenaged woman with long silver hair and a cresent moon wand, an eleven year old boy, and a humaniod lizard in different time-frames in the near future.

" _Should Hercules and eight mortals fight, you will fail_." Atropos concluded.

With that, the Fates cackled as the vision ended and the trio then absorbed themselves into the eye ball which then disappeared and they were gone in a matter of seconds, their job and visit done, the laughter fading in the air, leaving Hades alone with Pain and Panic. Then, after a few moments of tensed silence...

" _ **WHAAAAAAATTTT!?**_ " Hades roared, as a venerable volcano of pure fire busted from his head and singed the ceiling, unable to believe that the little God-Brat and a bunch of mortal brats were going to get the better of him. Hercules was bad enough, but a bunch of mortal teenagers, a young swordsman, two humaniod-animals and a kid going up against him too!?

He then immediately regained his composure and calmed down, running a hand through his fire-blue hair, "Okay, fine, fine, I'm cool, I'm fine."

Okay, so in order to prevent that future from happening, he first had to get rid of Hercules while the kid was still just an infant. Luckily for Hades, he quickly knew the key in how to get that kid out of his scheme.

* * *

Hades brought Pain and Panic to a chamber; where he kept all his tools for his schemes.(Bell dinging in the background) This chamber had multiple potions he'd pried from learned wizards who all died and certainly would come in handy. Like now for example.

"Pain? Panic?" Hades spoke to the two minions who both cowered in fear when he said their names. Fortunately for them, he wasn't going to attack them. Instead, he casually quired at a little game, "Got a little riddle for ya'. How do you kill a god?"

"I do not...know." Pain tried and failed miserably to answer. How _can_ you kill a god?

Panic, being the smarter one out of both of them, excitedly jumped his chance to answer and guessed correctly, "You can't. They're immortal?"

"Bingo!" Hades smirked, for once impressed and relieved that Panic caught on the scheme. "They're immortal."

With that, he pulled out a small vial from an altar. The vial had pinky-red liquid with a skull-shaped stopper, as he shook it, the bubbles inside the liquid had skulls inside them, as he gave out his order to the two devils, "So, first you've got to turn the little sunspot…mortal."

With this vial, once Hercules drank it, it would turn him mortal and make it far easier to kill him.

* * *

Later that day, at Mount Olympus at dusk, the God of Night rode past in his chariot, bringing the night-time sky with him, having everyone in the world, both in Mount Olympus and in the Mortal world to go to bed for the night. In the bassist, baby Hercules and baby Pegasus slept together peacefully and comfortly, and cutely snoring...and fully unaware of the dangers and tragedy that was about to occure on this very night of darkness.

As the two babies slept, menacing shadows slightly crept over towards them...

In the master room of Mount Olympus, Zeus and Hera were both sleeping until the sounds of glass breaking and unfamiliar twittering awoke the two from their sleep as they blink sleepily. The two wondered at first on what was going on until a horrible thought quickly entered their minds and they both gasped, "The baby!"

Zeus and Hera quickly got up and raced to the nursery, only to become horrified as the entire room was scattered; all of the gifts were lying around. Pegasus got his head stuck in a cornucopia until the baby horse got himself free, only to whine in horror as the cot he'd just been sleeping in...was upside down and his best friend...was gone! Kidnapped by the menacing shadows that attacked him and took the god-baby.

"HERCULES!" Hera cried out in horror, before sobbing at the loss of her baby son.

Zeus was horrified beyond belief. His only son...was kidnapped! The very idea and reality of it, and not knowing who had done such a thing or where the kidnapper had gone, angered him by the second which grew stronger. Eyes narrowing, finally, as his anger triggered a storm all around Olympus and into the mortal world...he roared, " _ **NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_ "

As he yelled, lightning flashed all over the mortal world below and around the god world above. Whoever had done this was going to pay for it. But first things first; find and rescue his son before it was too late.

* * *

As they quickly made their escape with baby Hercules, now awake, in their grasp towards the nearest place to kill him, Pain and Panic were hurrying down as fast as they could, while narrowly avoiding the lightning strikes which no doubt was caused by Zeus' sheer anger, yet the God did not yet know it was them who had kidnapped his only son.

"Now we did it!" Panic groaned, quickly becoming paranoid and terrified, "Zeus is gonna use us for target practice!"

"Just hang onto the kid, Panic!" Yelled Pain.

Just then, as they were arguing, they saw too late as dead trees came into view and before the trio knew it, they hit them and crash landed onto the ground. While the two devils grunted and moaned at brusies that quickly developed, Hercules, hurt, immediately wailed and cried.

Worried that the noise might cause attention from possibly mortal humans, Panic held onto the crying baby's arm and quickly told his friend, "Hurry! Let's just kill the kid and get it over with, okay?"

"Here you go, kid." Said Pain, putting a rubber baby bottle cap on the vial. "A little grecian formula." shoving it into Hercules's mouth. The moment the baby did, he began to drink uncertainly at the vial's potion, and as he did, slowly but surely, his immortality was quickly fading, his glow disappearing, turning him into a mortal human.

"Look at that!" Panic cried out, "He's...changing!" before hysterically asked, his voice becoming high-pitched with axienty, "Can we do it now?"

"No, no, no!" Pain answered, as he concentrated in having Hercules drink all of the potion. "He has to drink the whole potion. Every last drop!"

Unfortunately, Panic's fear came true, as an unfamiliar man's voice called out from around the corner, "Who's there?"

Panicking, the two of them screamed and immediately ran to hide. This was grave mistake on their part. One; the vial was forced out of Hercules' mouth and the baby resumed his crying. Two; the vial broke into pieces of glass. Three; the only drop left of the potion that hasn't been drunk yet, fell onto the ground and evaporated away into nothingness, never to be drunk. While it did succeed in turning Hercules mortal, there was one side-effect that would effect the future.

An old man, holding a touch to see where he was going, named Amphitryon, came around the corner and his eyes widened to see a new born baby, crying and left alone. Immediately, he called out to his wife, "Alcmene, over here."

Alcmene, coming around the corner as well, gasped as she saw the lonely and adorable infant, immediately went over to Hercules, gently picking him up as she cradled him in her arms, saying gently to calm him down, "Oh, you poor thing! Oh, don't cry."

"Is anybody there?" Amphitryon called out once more, and when he got no answer, he joined his wife and gazed at the apparently orphaned child.

Pain and Panic, peaking from behind a rock, and seeing that this was the only chance now to kill Hercules, as Panic whispered to his friend, "Now?"

"Now." Pain grinned evilly. He and Panic then slowly and silently crept up towards the unbeknownest trio, shape-shifting into that of carnivorous snakes to kill all three of them.

"Oh, well, he must have been abandoned." Amphitryon shrugged, immediately feeling sorry for the small child.

Alcmene smiled and whispered, "Amphitryon, for so many years we've prayed to the gods to bless us with a child. Perhaps they've answered our prayers." while Amphitryon looked at the medallion around the baby's neck. There was a lightning bolt symbol on one side and his apparent name on the other.

"Perhaps they have..." Amphitryon thought, before frowning in confusion at such an odd name on the medallion, "Hercules?"

While Hercules had calmed down to be in a pressence of very kind people that would become his mortal adoptive parents, just then all three of them heard and the couple became horrified as two snakes came to attack the baby. To their shock and surprise, and to Pain and Panic's horror and utter confusion, Hercules grabbed the two minions in snake-form with a big smile, giggling happily as he began to play with them with his still god-like strength that remained inside him. He began banging them onto the ground several times before tying them up into a knot, whirls them around a few times and lets go, sending them flying.

"Help, help, help! HEEELLLP!" Pain and Panic both screamed as they were blasted off really far away.

Amphitryon and Alcmene stare with they jaws dropped in awe while Hercules giggled. This baby was something else with incredible strength. None the less, he just unexpectedly saved them and himself from two snakes. Well...at least they finally had a child to look after and love. They just have to get used to his unusual strength.

* * *

"AAAHHH!" Pain and Panic screamed until the smashed right into a rock before falling onto the ground a second later where they landed, turning back to normal.

"Oh man!" Panic groaned, becoming hysterical with worry and fear. "Hades is gonna kills us when he finds out what happened!"

"You mean, _if_ , he finds out." Pain pointed out with a smirk after quick thinking.

"Of course he's gonna f-" Panic cuts himself off, realizing what his companion was talking about, then whispered, smiling, "If.. _if_ is good."

The two smiled and knew what they had to do. As long as Hercules never knew about his past as a god, Hades wouldn't suspect a single thing and maybe his plan could still work out as long as the kid was mortal and raised by normal humans. So, Pain and Panic would lie and reveal that the kid was dead just to make sure they don't get killed themselves.

That was mistake number four.

* * *

Back to the Muses, Calliope narrated in sorrow as it was demostrated in the Realm of Light, "It was tragic. Zeus lead all the gods on a frantic search."

"But by the time they found the baby, it was too late." Terpsichore added sadly. Then Melepomene started singing to continue the story.

" _~Young Herc was mortal now. But since he did not drink the last drop, He still retained his god-like strength. So thank his lucky star!~_ "

"Tell 'em, girl!" Calliope nodded.

When they heard the news, Zeus and Hera were so sorrowed that all they could do was gaze at the empty crib their only child had just been not hours ago, and now knowing that somehow their child was made mortal, they would never see him again and he was unable to return to Mount Olympus. Hera weeped in her husband's arms. Baby Pegasus, saddened at the loss of his best friend, could only hover sorrowfully.

 _"~But Zeus and Hera wept. Because their son could never come home, They have to watch their precious baby, Grow up from afar.~"_

Unbeknownest to Hercules as he was growing up under his new adoptive parents, as years went by, he lived a normal life, despite still having his incredible strength. And while this was going on, Hades, fully unaware that the kid was still alive, was very pleased with the results and began the next eighteen years plotting his plans that would make him ruler of the entire Mount Olympus and the Mortal World.

 _"~So Hades' horrid plan, Was hatched before he cut his first tooth, The boy grew stronger every day, And that's the Gospel Truth!~"_

This was only just the beginning of many challenges that lied ahead, and eleven years later...the future had set it's course for Hercules and friends he would make once he would understand the truth.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm pretty terrible at this, I know, but this was nagging at me for the past week now. I've been meaning to write this for a while, but never got into it until now. See you in the next chapter where the adventure** _ **really**_ **begins!**


	2. CHAPTER 2: The Beginning

**Author's Note: Caught a lucky break so I can continue this story. I don't think it'll be as long as other movie stories such as "Sailor Moon: Advent Children", "Sailor Moon and the Dawn of the Dinosaurs" and "Cardcaptors: At World's End", but we'll see what happens. Just so you know, Thalia is my favorite Muse; she's so funny!**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2: The Beginning.**

 _Eleven Years later: During the Events of "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep"..._

 _ **Realm of Light Time-1988...**_

It was a bright and sunny day in Greece in the Country side. In the middle of the path leading towards the town's square, were a couple of sheep who were eating grass, as they normally would in everyday life. Except...for one thing today. The Sheep suddenly something that made them leap out of the way, as all of the sudden, a cart carrying a large pile of Hay came parrelling down the road towards the markets in unnatural speed, carried by the now eleven year old Hercules, wearing a white...greek-thingy with sandles. He was eagerly pulling a cart if various goods into town, but while he was pulling it, it looked like he was flying. His adoptive father, Amphitryon, was riding on the cart along with his donkey named Penelope who had an broken ankle, and they both holding on for dear life in one of the most scariest rides either of them have had.

"Hercules! Slow down!" Amphitryon cried out, nervously holding onto his fedora. Unfortunately, as they were about to enter the entrance of the village where workers were working on remodeling it, unaware of what was about to happen, untl Amphitryon cried out to everyone, "Look out!"

Too late. Hercules rushed past and accidently caused three men to lose their balance though they managed to save themselves by grabbing on before they could fall onto the ground. Still, Hercules cringed visibly when he saw this happened, "Oops!" before calling out to the workers, "S-s-sorry, guys!"

"Hey, watch where you're goin'!" One Worker yelled.

"Sunday driver!" Yelled a second Worker.

Hercules entered the middle of the square, where people who saw him coming moved out of the way and braced themselves before he skid to a stop, burying himself into the ground shoulders-deep in the process. Just outside one of the shops, a fourteen year old boy with black spikey hair, blue eyes, and wearing some blue and black suit with no sleeves and big shoulder pads, named Zack, just witnessed Hercules' arrival, and boy was he stunned.

"Whoa...!" Zack muttered to himself, eyes wide in utter disbelief. "No other guy could do that!"

He'd only been here for a few months as he came to this part of the world in the progress of making a start of making his dream come true, so he'd seen Hercules quite a few times, but never got the chance to meet him properly. And unlike everyone else in the countryside, Zack thought the kid's strength was cool. Sure he was accident prone due to his strength, but Zack wasn't one to blame him for that. As one would say, it was one of those things that some people had no control over.

Hercules in the meantime, leaped himself out of the newly-made hole he'd made, before approaching the Hay, while Amphitryon, relieved that the ride was over, stood up as well, thanking Hercules, "Thanks, son. When old Penelope twisted her ankle back there, I thought we were done for."

"No problem, Pop." Hercules replied as he lifted up the load of hay with just one hand with ease.

"Uh, don't-don't-don't unload just yet. First I have to finagle with Phideas." Amphitryon quickly said.

"Okay," Said Hercules, as he tossed the Hay back onto the cart with a simple flick of his wrist that it catapaulted Penelope up into the air. "Whoops. Heh…Sorry, Penelope."

Zack who was watching even though not realizing he noticed this, scratched the back of his head, thinking to himself, ' _I think he kind of needs to know how to control his strength. Other than that, he's a nice guy._ '

"Zack." A voice spoke out to him.

Zack turned to find his mentor and best friend, Angeal, who was a man in his early twenties, taller than he was and much more heavyset, with strong muscles, a firm jaw and handsome features. His black hair was brushed back and slicked across his head. He wore the black uniform that was similiar to Zack's but much more moden, strapped onto his back there was an enormous sword. How the guy can carry the sword on his back like that with strength that still wasn't as good as Hercules', Zack didn't know. Angeal was the reason why Zack came here in the first place; the guy was a swordsman and he was teaching the younger man the arts of the sword, which he was coming close in being a professional with his broadsword by now.

Today would make the last day they would be together for quite awhile, as Angeal would be leaving on an adventure this week, leaving Zack to train on his own now that the boy was old enough to take care of himself.

"Zack, would you please stop day-dreaming?" Angeal asked, with slight exasperation.

"I wasn't day-dreaming." Zack pouted, before hesitately continued, "It was just...y'know." gesturing at Hercules and his father at the cart.

When Angeal followed the teenager's gaze, he suddenly got the message and smirked, "Ah. The young man with super-human strength, I see. Let me guess; He carried the cart of Hay all the way here, right?"

Zack grinned, "What was your first clue?" he teased, as he and his mentor turned back to the duo, as Penelope came falling back down to earth from her unexpected flight.

"Now, Hercules, this time, please just—" Amphitryon said before Hercules finished for him.

"I know, I know." Hercules said, easily catching the donkey in his arms where she landed, before settling her back onto the cart, finishing for his father, "Stay by the cart."

"That's my boy." Amphitryon smiled as he ruffled Hercules's hair before walking off.

Hercules then rested by the cart when he heard groaning, turning just in time to see the vase-owner struggling with a very large vase, and was about to drop it that would break it and cost the guy lots of money, since large vases were generally pretty expensive. Never missing a chance to help, Hercules hurried over and grabbed the other side of the vase before the man ended up dropping it.

"Careful." He said.

The man sighed in relief at the close call, saying, "Why, thank you."

"No problem." Said Hercules, looking at the man who immediately recongised him, and suddenly the guy became terrified of the boy. Despite the boy being generally nice mannered, his strength was notoriously dangerous and very accident-prone.

"Why Hercules...!" The man shuttered. "It-It-It's you!"

"Let me help you with that." Hercules offered.

But the man immediately turned away with the vase, grunting at the now once again extremely heavy vase, and while he did sort of wish for much needed help, he wasn't going to risk in asking him to do it. "No, no, no, no, no, I got it. I'm fine. Just run along."

"You sure?" Hercules asked, concerned.

"Oh, yes. Absolutely." The man answered, before leaving Hercules on his own.

Shaking his head, Hercules made is way back to the cart when a frisbee landed just in front of him. He then picked it up as the three local boys arrived, the blonde-haired one calling out to him, "Yo! Give it here!" before gasping as he and his friends immediately recongised him.

"Hey, you need an extra guy?" Asked Hercules, desperate for friends and something to do. The kids in front of him never let him play before, usually because he ended up breaking something.

Zack, who had been given his sword, was the first to come back out of the weapons store when he saw Herc' again, this time with the three local kids who seemed to be nervous. Seeing this made him think of back of his hometown at another countryside that was a few days away from here. There weren't much kids at home either, and the ones Zack grew up with were already ten years older than he was, and despite him having a happy-go-lucky personality and had actually made some good friends, like Angeal for example, he did feel a bit left out in not having friends around his age. Though he wouldn't count on those three guys in being friends, not the way in they never let Hercules give him an actual chance.

The blonde-haired kid, being pushed forward by his friends, began nervously, "Uh...sorry, Herc'. Uh, we've already got…5...and we want to keep it an even number."

"Hey, wait a second, five isn't an even-" Hercules began, only for the blonde-haired kid to snatch the frisbee from his hand and he and his friends made a retreat, snickering.

"See ya, Herc!" The blonde-haired boy muttered.

Though the three boys assumed that they were out of ear-shot, both Hercules and Zack heard the comments the guys were making at the orange-haired boy, which disheartened Hercules and annoyed Zack.

"What a geek!" Another boy grinned.

"Destructo-boy!" Another said.

"Maybe we should call him 'Jerkcules' and have him hang out with black-puppy-boy." The blonde-haired boy commented, and that, as well as Hercules also being slightly feared by the public, the three boys didn't seem to take Zack seriously either, which annoyed the teen to no-end.

"Hey! I heard that! Give the guy some slack, will ya?" Zack called out to the boys, but they just laughed, either not hearing him or just ignoring him on purpose. Great. First Hercules and now himself? What was wrong with this neighborhood? Was he, Hercules, his bad and Angeal, like, the only guys in town that had manners or something? Despite ignoring the toughness of the people, Zack could tell that the rudeness and anger of these people was steadily getting worse, not to mention paranioa.

Hercules, with a frown, sat down by himself on the edge of a fountain, and hung his head. People seemed to move away from him wherever he went. Like he was radioactive. His only friends in his entire world were his parents, and that, was pretty depressing for an eleven year old boy. While he did appreciate in what Zack had said as the teenager actually seemed pretty nice, neither of them had given the chance to speak, especially since Zack always seemed to be busy in becoming a swordsman.

"Heads up!" The same blonde-haired boy cried out, as the frisbee was heading Zack's and Hercules's way. The latter saw this as his chance. If he could catch it without breaking something, he might be able to make friends.

"I-I got it." Hercules exclaimed as he jumped and grabbed it.

Unfortunately, Zack quickly saw where the kid was about to crash into and cried out, "Watch out!" but it was too late as Hercules had flung himself a little too hard. He slammed into a pillar with incredible force and slid down onto his back. Because of that, it became loose and began to topple.

"Uh-oh." Hercules muttered, eyes wide in horror.

Zack cringled and mumbled, "Not good." as he saw Hercules grabbed it, but he accidentally swung it around and soon others start falling one by one, like domino. He sees this and throws the pillar he was holding away to try and stop it, only to accidently cause another standing pillar to topple over and soon another domino wave starts going around the square.

Zack had to rush out the way to avoid getting crushed, and at the same time, pushed Angeal out of the way, calling out, "Incoming!" and narrowly dodged another piller and both were on the ground in the middle of the Town Square. Without thinking and worried for both Hercules and the people, Zack immediately climbed to his feet and raced to try and help out, much to Angeal's chargin.

"Zack, wait!" Angeal called out, but his trainee was already too far. He groaned, "...Kids."

Meanwhile, Hercules rushed after the pillers to stop them, passing by Amphitryon who called out, "Son."

"Hang on, Pop! Be right back!" Hercules responded hurriedly.

Hercules was a good runner, but he couldn't out run the pillars, and eventually, they ended up approaching the vase store, much to the owner's horror as he cried out dismay, "Oh my! Oh no! Don't! Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!"

He then braced himself and cringed, expecting his store to be destroyed. Fortunately, the pillars stopped in an triangle shape just before they could smash anything. Seeing that they came to a stop, after a second of hesitation, he sighed in relief and laughed scaredly.

 _Unfortunately_ that relief was short-lived as both Hercules and then Zack a second later both were unable to stop themselves as they slipped onto the puddle of water and were sliding out of control towards the store, the two young boys screaming in alarm while the Vase owner saw this and screamed in horror. Despite Zack being a second behind, he accidently crashed into the left-side pillar while Hercules crashed into both the vase owner and the pots which tiggered the right pillar to crash as well. This caused the pillars to crash an fall down due to the sudden vibrations of the impact.

Shortly after this, both Hercules and Zack stood up, looking around at the destruction before them, the former holding the frisbee in guilt silence, while the latter cringed, muttering, "Oops." feeling bad for having crashed into the pillar as he did.

The blonde-haired boy returned, glaring angrily at the two, saying in heavy sarcasm, "Nice one, _Jerkcules_ and _Crack_." snatching the frisbee from Hercules and stormed off.

"Hey, it was an accident on our parts, okay?" Zack protested, both defending Hercules and himself. But they then, the blonde-haired brat had already disappeared in anger.

"It's not your fault, or his either, Zack." Angeal spoke up as he approached the teenager. Unlike most of the people around them now, he was one of the few forgiving sorts and knew that the actions of both his rookie and the eleven year old boy were indeed accidents. Amphitryon was in the same vote as him.

"Son." Amphitryon muttered to Hercules, not angry, but simply shocked at what just happened. Before he could say anything else, the vase owner popped up from the wreckage, taking the pot that was stuck on his head off.

"This…is the last… _ **STRAW, AMPHITRYON!**_ " He yelled angrily, red-faced and throwing the vase which is smashed into pieces. Soon the whole town except for Zack and Angeal began yelling at Hercules and his adoptive father.

"That boy is a menace!" A woman angrily pointed at Hercules.

"He's too dangerous to be around _normal_ people!" Another man shouted angrily.

"And THIS boy! You and that mentor of yours go back to where you both came from!" The vase owner now shouted at both Zack and Angeal, the teenager flinching visibly at the accussion, with most people agreeing with him and a couple others about both Hercules and Zack's 'stupidity'.

"I'd appreciate that you do not take it too seriously to these young men equally." Angeal reasoned, keeping calm despite the surging anger he was feeling while placing hand onto Zack's shoulder. "Zack only tried to help."

"And Hercules didn't mean any harm. He's just a kid." Amphitryon defended his son as well, calmly. "He just…can't control his strength."

The vase owner begged to differ. "I'm _warning both of you_." He growled, first to Angeal, "You keep that useless brat to yourself or you will never to allowed here again!"

He then turned to Amphitryon and concluded, angrily, "And you! You keep that, that, that….Freak away from here!"

Both Hercules and Zack were hurt by what just happened, but none more so than Hercules. He'd messed up before but never as badly as this. He truly screwed up this time and now was officially an outcast to everyone in town. As for Zack, he felt incredibly bad for being unable to help out to cheer Hercules up as well as unable to help out what just happened to everyone. He always tried to help others, he really did.

But all he did was make things worse. As far as the town was concerned, Zack just made this a non-visitor society and if he remained here, Angeal would be forbidden to return.

In translation; the two young boys just screwed up royally.

* * *

Later in the afternoon on the hillside outside of town, Zack and Angeal retreated to their few month house they'd been staying at. Zack for his part, did his squats which, while was his favorite habit, it was also his own preferred training method. It also helped to calm his stress levels, and today was one of those days. Hercules was humilated to be named outcast, and Zack himself was angry with himself in being called useless. It upsetted him to no end and he was sick of this ignorant backwater town filled with so many jerks.

"Zack, calm down." Angeal began as he looked out to the distance of the ocean that wasn't far away as the sun sets, his arms crossed. "You're only going to drive yourself over the edge."

"How can I not?" Zack grunted, still doing his squats as he had the conversation with his mentor. "That guy just wants to fit in and no one is giving him a chance. It's like people's never seen a country boy before."

He sighed before standing up straight, gazing low at the grass. "It doesn't help that I made things even worse." He added, miserably.

"Don't take it to heart." Angeal turned to face the teenaged boy. "Everyone in this town just don't know any better."

"Well, for one thing, they're right about me." Zack muttered. "I'm totally useless. Ever since I came here, it's been one disaster after another. Not fitting in becoming a hero."

Angeal sighed, before approaching his young trainee. Seeing how depressed the young man had become and most likely wanted to redeem himself, knew that there was only one salution to solve Zack's problem and while he had a feeling the teenager might not be lucky this year or in several years to come, it was a start.

"Well, there is someone who might give you a chance to make your dream come true." Angeal suggested.

"Like what?" Zack slumped, knowing that this wasn't the good expression in saying goodbye to his mentor and friend for who knows how long.

"All of those heroes who were in history were trained by the trainer of true heroes. Especially Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus, etc'." Angeal continued, "He even trained Jason to sail the Argo, or so I heard."

"You're serious, right?" Zack asked, curious.

Angeal chuckled, "I can be pretty cheap with gossip."

"Yeah, no kidding…" Zack chuckled softly in agreement. Then he asked, "So, the guy who trained all of the heroes...who's he?"

"They say his name is Philotetes." Angeal answered, then added, "But some town's people called him ' _Goat-Man_ '."

"Why ' _Goat-Man_ '?" Zack quired, a bit dumbfounded.

"Because I've heard he's actually a Satyr, part man, part goat."

"Nice excuse!"

At first, Angeal said nothing. He carried on looking at the sunset. Then he stopped and folded his arms across his chest, frowning in thought. "Zack…" he said after a moment. "Do you know about Achilles?"

"Uh, you mean the guy who was one of the coolest heroes out but ended up killed brutually for whatever reason?" Zack shrugged while folding his arms. He heard that Achilles was the guy who almost had it all; That guy was similiar to another hero, Sephiroth. But unlike the silver-haired man, Achilles had met a bitter end and no one knew the cause of his death.

"I thought as much." Angeal smirked. Of course Zack would've known about Achilles. The teenager had spend majority of his life studying heroes and all of the stories that played out for several years.

As the conversation came to a slight halt, Zack couldn't help but comment at the large sword, the Buster Sword Angeal had called it, that was on the older man's back, "You know, I've never seen you actually use that. Don't you think it's some sort of a waste?"

Angeal turned to gaze at his pupil, and told him, "Use brings about wear, tear, and rust. And that's a real waste."

"Seriously?" Zack said with slight skeptism.

"Like I said, I can be pretty cheap."

"Well, that explains everything." Zack smirked.

Angeal nodded, approaching him once more, and placed a warm comforting hand onto Zack's shoulder, saying to him as the time had come for them to depart, which Zack also noticed as the sun began to set and the teen lowered his gaze a little in sadness. As much as the teen didn't want his mentor to leave, he knew that he couldn't be taught by him forever.

"I'll be travelling to a lot of places tomorrow." Angeal told him with a knowing but sad smile, "There's a Coliseum in a town near Thebes. Head there, and if you're lucky, you might be able to find Philotetes."

That seemed to make Zack feel a bit better despite that this was goodbye. So, attempting to be optimistic, he smiled, "You got it!"

After the two shared a somewhat but comforting farewell hug, Angeal then turned to leave, but not before saying for the final time before Zack made his way back to the house.

"Zack…" he began.

Zack turned and looked at his friend's retreating form.

"Embrace your dreams."

Zack tilted his head in confusion. "Huh?"

"If you want to be a hero you need to have dreams…" Angeal said. He inclined his head, and Zack saw the serious look in his eyes as he added, with utmost sincerity: "And honour."

Zack scratched his head as Angeal walked off down the hill. Angeal's words still echoing in his mind.

' _Dreams… and honour…_ '

Despite this, Zack nodded, knowing that he won't see his friend and mentor for possibly a long time, but he knew that they'll meet up again someday. When, that is a mystery.

* * *

At the same time at the cliffside near the farm, a disheartened Hercules and Amphitryon sat on a log, alone for some father and son quality time.

"Son." Amphityron began with a sigh, "You shouldn't let those things they said back there get to you."

"But Pop, they're right!" Hercules pointed out as he stood up, "I-I am a freak. I try to fit in, I really do. I just can't. To make things worse, that other guy with the black spiky hair was blamed too because of me. It's my fault that he got hit hard." He sighed after calming down, gazing at the sunset, admitting what had been on his mind for most of his life ever since he learned how to walk and talk, "Sometimes...I feel like...like I really don't belong here. Like I'm supposed to be...someplace else." he shrugged, unable to describe what kind of place he should really be at.

Amphitryon stood up, trying to say, "Hercules, Son-"

"I know it doesn't make any sense." Hercules just continued on, before walking off, feeling that he needed some time alone for a little bit.

What he didn't know was that Amphityron's mind was coming to guilt. He knew this day would come, but he never thought it would be this soon. Since Hercules had finally admitted that he felt out of place...it was time for him to know the truth.

* * *

Arriving at a cliff, Hercules picked up a stone, and skipped it across the water where it made it to the other side.

" _~I have often dreamed of a far-off place, Where a great, warm welcome will be waiting for me. Where the crowds will cheer, when they see my face, And a voice keeps sayin,' this is where I'm meant to be~_ "

This was a dream he had dreamed for a long time; for people to welcome him into their world, for a place where he belonged. It always gave Hercules some sort of comfort along with the comfort from his parents.

Later that night, he entered the forest near home and climbed up a tree to gaze at the starry clear sky to the stars, as a shooting star flew past before fading.

" _~I will find my way, I can go the distance, l'll be there someday, If I can be strong, I know every mile, Will be worth my while. I would go most anywhere to feel like I belong~_ "

Someday things would be alright. He would make sense of where he would feel truly belonged. It might not be today, but Hercules knew, deep in his heart, it would happen someday. He would use his strength to do the right thing, that he was certain.

* * *

As Hercules returned home a little while later, he found his parents waiting for him at the front doorstep, in each other's arms. He immediately sensed that something was wrong, but he had no idea what it was yet...until...

"Hercules," Said Amphitryon, hesitatedly. "There's something your mother and I have been meaning to-to tell ya."

And so the couple told Hercules everything that happened eleven years ago, which made perfect sense to the boy. They found him alone with no birth family, how he saved them from two snakes with his strength and raised him as their own. That explained why he felt out of place, but then...that still begged the question.

"But if you found me," Hercules began, "Then where did I come from? Why was I left here?"

"This…was around your neck when we found you." Alcmene explained, as she handed Hercules the medallion he wore when he was an infant. As her fingered the somewhat familiar pendent and the lightning bolt symbol on it, which also on the back, also had his name on it, she answered his unasked question, "It's the symbol of the gods."

"This is it!" Hercules said excitedly, "Don't you see? Maybe they have the answers! I'll go to the temple of Zeus and-" he paused, and turned to his parents, quickly realising that he would be leaving them behind, the people who had adopted him and raised him and loved him more than anything. That, as much as he now wanted the truth, was extremely grateful for.

"Ma...Pop." Hercules began, "You're the greatest parents anyone could have but,…I-I gotta know."

* * *

Early next morning, Alcmene gave Hercules a cloak to keep him warm against the weather, just in case and the golden medallion that now once again wore around his neck for the first time in eleven years. After giving his family a huge loving hug, Hercules then waved goodbye to Amphitryon and Alcmene, and headed off on his journey towards the Temple of Zeus, where he would learn the truth about his origins.

" _~I am on my way, I can go the distance, I don't care how far, Somehow I'll be strong, I know every mile will be worth my while, I would go most anywhere to find where I belong~_ "

On his journey, he passed the field of flowers, the canyons, bravely seeped through the storm, and finally, at night after a few days on his journey, he finally made it to the great Temple of Zeus which was empty when he arrived. Hercules took the bag off his shoulder and fingered the medallion again, before gazing up close to a gigantic statue at Zeus sitting on a throne. He looked on the statue's shoulder and saw the same lightning bolt symbol on his medallion without knowing what to do, he got down on one knee.

"Oh, mighty Zeus. Please hear me and answer my question." Hercules prayed, "I need to know. Who am I? Where do I belong?"

Nothing happened at first, but slowly the wind blew. Then the torches illuminating the whole room as a bolt of lightning hits the statue of Zeus which then opened his eyes. Hercules was dumbstruck. The statue just came to life!

He looked down at Hercules and said, "My boy, my little Hercules."

Given that he had pretty much SEEN A STATUE COME TO LIFE, Hercules screamed and tried to run away, only for the statue to grab him quickly and pulled him up.

"Hey, hey, hey, hold on, kiddo! What's the hurry? After all these years is this the kind of hello you'd give your father?" The statue of Zeus asked.

"F-F-Father?" Hercules asked, dumbfounded at what he just heard, before being allowed to stand on the palm of the statue's hand.

"Didn't know you had a famous father, did you? _Surprise!_ " Zeus smiled, "Look how you've grown. Why you've got your mother's beautiful eyes... and my strong chin. Ha!"

Okay, so that sort of made a creepy kind of sense, but at the same time, total disbelief crept to Hercules who was starting to come to a shocking realization, "I don't understand. If you're my father...that would make me a—"

"A god." Zeus finished for him.

"A god." Hercules repeated in awe. "A god!" he was awestruck. No wonder he always felt out of place. That also explained his unusual strength. Who would've thought that he was actually a god?

"Hey, you wanted answers and by thunder, you're old enough now to know the truth." Zeus explained, though he couldn't blame the kid for being figurtively shocked.

"So, why did you leave me in Greece? Did you want me?" Hercules asked a little saddened.

"Of course we did." Zeus assured Hercules. "Your mother and I loved you with all our hearts, but someone stole you from us and turned you mortal and only gods could live on Mount Olympus."

Well that explained everything. Hercules had been kidnapped from his birth parents who, much like his adoptive parents, loved him so much, and somehow, the kidnapper or kidnappers who were possibly never found somehow reduced him to become human save for his strength. And as much as it ached his heart to admit it, it also explained why his real parents didn't come for him, because they couldn't; As Zeus had said, only Gods can live on Mount Olympus.

"And you can't do a thing?" Hercules asked.

To his surprise, Zeus knew the answer to that as he had found a salution in the past a decade and one year, "I can't, Hercules, but you can." with a smile.

"R-Really?" Hercules asked, excitedly. There was really a chance he himself can return to his true place where he belonged? That gave him immediate hope. "Wh-what? I-I'll do anything."

"Hercules, if you can prove yourself a true hero in Greece, your Godhood will be restored." Zeus explained.

"A true hero. Great!" Hercules said with a smile. He did always dream in becoming a hero, and a true hero sounded like fun and exciting. And on top of that, that was his key in returning home...until he realised he had no idea how it can be done, so he asked Zeus, "Uh, exactly, how do you become a true hero?"

"First, you must seek out Philoctetes, the trainer of heroes." Zeus instructed.

"Seek out Philoctetes. Right! I'll-" Hercules began to walk off only to remember too late that he was high up and fell off Zeus's hand, yelping, "Whoa!"

"Whoa!" Zeus quickly caught him, before gently puts him down back onto the ground, "Hold your horses." before quickly remembering, "Which reminds me..."

He then whistled, and through the hole in the ceiling of the temple, a bright star of light descended down into the temple. As it descended, it then took form of a now teenaged Pegasus who flew around expertly. He has grown into a magnificent horse, his wings having become large for excellent flight.

"You probably don't remember Pegasus, but you two go way back, son." Zeus smiled.

Pegasus, seeing Hercules immediately recongized him and stood in front of the boy who observed the horse. There was something extremely familiar about the amazing horse with wings. Pegasus smiled and bonked his head against Hercules just as the latter had done when the two were just infants, and that triggered the memory, which grew stronger as the horse licked him that made the boy chuckle. That's when he finally remembered and smiled.

"Oh! Pegasus!" Hercules smiled, hugging his childhood friend who hugged him in return with his wings, the two best friends finally reunited.

"He's a magnificent horse." Said Zeus with a smile at the heart-warming reunion. "With the brain of a bird."

Pegasus in response smiled while tweeting like a bird, before he immediately became confused at what Zeus just said. What was he talking about? Oh well.

"I'll find Philoctetes, and become a true hero!" Hercules declared as he leaped onto Pegasus's back as the two flew up and landed onto Zeus's finger.

"That's the spirit!" Zeus cheered with a smile.

"I won't let you down, father!" Hercules smiled, and soon as Zeus blew and gave him and Pegasus a good strong wind to begin his journey, the young mortal god cheered, "Yee-haw!"

Zeus smiled, becoming emotional as Hercules had called him father, muttering a farewell for now, "Good luck, son." as the statue turned back to normal and the temple grew dark once again.

Hercules then rode Pegasus across the sky on their great first journey to find Philoctetes to begin training for Hercules to become a true hero.

" _I will beat the odds, I can go the distance, I will face the world, Fearless, proud and strong, I will please the gods, I can go the distance, Till I find my heroes, welcome right, where, I, Belong~_ "

The two flew into the incoming sunrise and above the clouds, and at the same time, Zack made his journey towards the town towards the Coliseum, and little did the two of them know, they would meet offically for the first time in their lives, meet seven others from different worlds who were already on a grand journey of their own, and while the fates of six of them were unfortunately already been sealed, the seventh one, who had begun his own grand journey five years earlier, would become part of the destiny these two were begin in years to come.

But little did all of them know, the world alignment looked unnervingly close to perfectly lining up in just nine years to come.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry that this chapter was shorter, but I will try to make the future chapters longer. For some reason, the first part of the song "Go to Distance" as Hercules sang always brought me to tears. The rest of the song, parts 2 and 3 never bring me to tears, though.**

 **See you real soon!**


	3. CHAPTER 3: Training and Mid-Adventures

**Author's Note: Here's chapter three and some parts of it will be recongised if you already read "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep".**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

 **CHAPTER 3: Training and Mid-Adventures.**

* * *

Pegasus took Hercules to the ruins of an old island at sea. It didn't look like much: There was fog everywhere and of a statue of some warrior seemed to be the only things there besides overgrown plants. A goat suddenly appeared and startled both Hercules and Pegasus and ran and leaped up to a large statue head that layed broken on the ground, and funny enough, it had a door that seemed to fit the size of a two year old child.

"You sure this is the right place?" Hercules whispered to Pegasus who, while a little confused, nodded while making noises that sounded like, " _Uh-huh, uh-huh._ "

They explored all over the place until they heard giggling near by. Curious, Hercules looked through the bushes and saw three women who seemed to have flowers as actual parts of their hair laughing while splashing water at each other, apparently playing. He then heard another goat sound to their left, and saw a goat's behind sticking from the bushes, and he seemed to be stuck.

"What's the matter, little guy? You stuck?" Hercules asked as he went to help it out. But when he picked it up, it wasn't any old goat; It was part man upper-half, part goat at the lower-half.

The Goat-Man got annoyed and snapped, "Whoa! Hey, butt out, buddy!" causing Hercules to scream and drop him.

This alerted the women and immediately ran off, just as the goat-man run after them, "Girls! Stop! Stop! Come back, ome back! Whoa, whoa-" He tried to catch one, but she turned into flowers. Annoyed, he chased another one, "Oh, geez! Wait! Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

The said girl then turned into a tree which he stopped in front in annoyance, before he grinned, "Oh, nymphs! They can't keep their hands off me." only to be whacked back by the tree-branch of the Tree-Nymph who said in annoyance, "Hey!"

The Goat-Man landed hard on his butt, rubbing both it and his sore cheek, having been hit twice, before realising he landed right back to where a now disbelieved and puzzled Hercules was. Standing up, he asked, "What's the matter? You never seen a satyr before?"

"Uh...no." Hercules said simply. "Can you help us? We're looking for someone called Philoctetes."

The satyr casually took a bowl of grapes before tossing the said grapes aside and took a bite from the bowl itself, before answering, "Call me Phil."

Hercules eyes widened. This is the trainer of heroes!? Relieved and happy, he immediately cried out, "Phil!" while taking Phil's hand unexpectedly and began to shake it, while accidently holding on too hard.

"Ow!" Phil cried out at intensed pain of his left hand being squeezed so tightly that he was certain that it was about to be broken.

"Boy, am I glad to meet you! I'm Hercules." Hercules said with a smile spreading on his face. As Phil finally managed to pull his hand free, the goat-man gazed at it in annoyance as not only it turns red, but his fingers were now so thin that they were almost glued together and went limp like a broken stick, while Hercules continued, gesturing at Pegasus, "And this is Pegasus."

Pegasus in response gave Phil a sloppy lick which covered the latter with saliva, much to his disgust and made his sour mood increase slightly, muttering, "A-a-animals. Disgusting!" wiping the saliva off and walked off, much to Pegasus's confusion.

As Phil walked off towards the giant statue which was now clearly his house, Hercules and Pegesus followed as Hercules explained, "I need your help. I want to become a hero. A true hero."

Phil looked at him incredulously, then plainly waved, "Sorry, kid, can't help ya." and went inside, closing the door.

"Wait!" Hercules cried out, as he grabbed the door and accidently pulled it out, with Phil holding onto the other side in slight surprise and more annoyance. Seeing this, the boy cringed, "Uh, sorry. Why not?"

Phil dropped to the ground, and told him plainly, while grabbing the door and successfully put the door back on its hinges, "Two words; I, am, retired!" and started to fix it up.

Hercules counted fingers and realized that Phil said three words and not two. Did he know how to count? He then reminded himself the main reason why he was here. "Look, I gotta do this. Haven't you ever had a dream, something you wanted so bad you'd do anything?"

Phil was just one step in going back inside when he froze as Hercules asked that question, which gave him flashbacks. There was a good reason why he retired in the first place, and it wasn't the best of memories. With a sigh, he glanced at the boy and gestured, "Kid, come inside, I wanna show you something."

Hercules went inside while careful to bend down so that he could fit through the tiny door. Unfortunately, the same wouldn't be said for Pegasus as the winged horse only managed to fit his head in, but the rest of his body and wings were too big no matter how he tried. It was too small for him as he was used to open areas, so he just slumped in defeat.

* * *

Meanwhile, as Hercules walked in and up a ramp, admiring so many ancient greek artifacts, he accidently bumped his head against a log.

"Watch it!" Phil cried out. "That was part of the mast of the Argo."

" _The_ Argo?" Hercules asked in awe, thinking back of when he learned about the quest for the Golden Fleece.

"Yeah. Who do you think taught Jason how to sail? Cleopatra? I trained all those would-be heroes." Phil explained, pointing at each statue and paintings of those who he trained through out the years, "Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus. A lotta _"yeuseus."_ And every single one of those bums let me down." as he spun the plate of Theseus painting with the guy fighting against the Minotaur, which as it spins shows the Minotaur beating him up. "Flatter then a discus. None of them could go the distance."

Then he pointed up at another statue of a muscular greek man, in which Hercules looked up in awe, as Phil continued, fond with this memory...for now, "And then there was Achilles. Now there was a guy who had it all - the build, the foot speed. He could jab, he could take a hit, he could keep on comin'." Then when he saw the heel of the statue, he became frustrated, and said, "But that furshlugginer heel of his! He barely gets nicked there once and - kaboom!" and as he said 'He barely' he flicked at the heel of the statue and within seconds, it began crack and then shatter into thousands of pieces, concluding, "He's history."

Phil then sighed and pulled out a a piece of cloth as he answers Hercules' previous question, "Yeah, I had a dream once. I dreamed I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was." before flipping it over onto a mast, depicting a man, as the sun's light shined through the holes that made the picture, making it as though they were stars in teh sky, as he continued, "So great the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars, all across the sky, and people would say, _"That's Phil's boy."_ That's right."

He then grumbled and pulled if off the mast, which Hercules stood behind mimicking the pose, as Phil concluded, "Eh, but dreams are for rookies. A guy can only take so much disappointment." before leaning up against a table, dejected.

"But I'm different than those other guys, Phil!" Hercules urged, "I can go the distance. Come on, I'll show you."

He then grabbed Phil by the arm and and led him back outside, accidently hitting Phil's head on the Argo's mast on their way out and passed a puzzled Pegasus who quickly joined up with the duo, while Phil grunted, "Geez, you don't give up, do ya?" Phil asked, as Hercules finally dropped him, the three of them were now next to a giant broken statue that looked like a UFO at a cliff.

"Watch this." Hercules said as he picked up the statue and whirls it around like a discus. He lets it go and it sails miles across the ocean faster than a bird can fly.

Phil's eyes widened as he watched this with amazement. That kid's strength was unlike anything he'd ever seen. Where'd an eleven year old learned how to do that? "Holy Hera..." He muttered, then thought to himself, "You know maybe if I-" before quickly realising what he was about to say and slapped himself, grunting, "No, no! Nonono! Snap out of it!"

He then began to walk off, groaning, "I'm too old to get mixed up in this stuff again."

But Hercules stopped him again and pleaded, "But if I don't become a true hero, I'll never be able to rejoin my father, Zeus."

A moment of skeptical pause on Phil's part.

"Hold it! Zeus is your father, right?" He asked with a smirk. Now he knew that the kid was making things up. This eleven year old guy, the son of the King of all Gods?

"Uh-huh." Said Hercules, unaware that Phil was mocking him. He then became disbelieved and quickly annoyed as Phil started to laugh hysterically, while Pegasus was also disbelieved and confused.

"Zeus! The big guy. He's your daddy! Ah, ha ha! Mr. Lightning Bolts!" Phil then went up to a small cliff and continued to laugh. " _'Read me a book, would you, da-da?'_ " He pretended to ask supposedly imitating a baby Hercules, collasping onto the ground on his stomach, punching it through laughter, then mimicked Zeus, standing up again, "Zeus; _'Once upon a Time-'_ " and then collasped onto his back, laughing until he calmed down.

"It's the truth!" Hercules insisted.

"Puh-leeze!" Phil rolled his eyes before sliding down a hill, skeptically staring at Hercules as he explained...(through a song).

" _~So you want to be a hero, kid, Well, whoop-dee-do~_ "

Hercules cringed at this, before going over to a headless statue of a muscular man and pretended that he was musuclar, as all kids and teenagers would, while Phil continued to explain.

" _~I have been around the block before with blockheads just like you. Each and every one was disappointment.~_ "

He then shoved Pegasus away from a smaller statue, but ended up having part of it hit his head, cringing while waving the annoying horse away from him. Pegasus laughed until he stopped when he noticed Hercules's annoyed disapproval.

" _~Pain! For which there ain't no ointment, So much for excuses, Though a kid of Zeus is, Askin' me to jump into the fray~_ "

He went over to a small stump, unaware that dark purple clouds began to form above them. Phil then crossed his arms, beginning sternly, "My answer is two words!"

And was immediately struck by a lightning bolt just before he could say 'No way' in his own words(probably NOT in two words), and was comically fried, churned black like a crisp. Phil held a shocked(both literally and figuretively) expression, and then realised, since the weather was supposed to be nice today, and given that the sky returned to normal, made him realise that Hercules was telling the truth. What else could have caused a five second Lightning strike on a clear day but Zeus himself?

Apparently the God didn't take Phil's critism kindly and this was his way of saying accept Hercules' request, or suffer severe consenquences.

"Okay." Phil croaked, weakly.

"You mean you'll do it?" Hercules asked, excitedly, tapping Phil's back so hard that his new mentor fell, but it did return him to normal.

"You win." Phil groaned, exasperated.

"You won't be sorry, Phil!" Hercules grinned, sharing a high-five with Pegasus.

"Oh, gods." Phil groaned. What has he gotten himself into?

"When can we start?" Hercules asked, excitedly. "Can we start now?"

"Oy, vay." Phil moaned, shaking his head in disbelief and resignation. This was going to be a loooooong training regime, and even worse, he was training a kid! A kid who was the son of Zeus!

Well...might as well get started.

* * *

Since Phil routated Hercules training between this island and a town near Thebes where a special Coliseum was at, which would help if Hercules wanted to be a true hero, that was a good place to start as any. First, Phil found an old trunk filled with tools, weapons and such needed for training, and pulled it and pushed out from the bushes.

" _~I'd given up hope that someone would come along~_ "

But as he pushed it, Hercules offered to help by pulling it, but ended up tipping it the side and as the lid opened, everything fell out and covered Phil in a large pile of mess, which some of the items were...mainly junk that were useless. Phil gave him an annoyed look.

" _~A fella who'd ring the bell for once, not the gong~_ OH!" He grunted as a trophy landed on top of his head.

Phil took out the trophy off his head, and at first thought it was a 1st place trophy, but after a bit of dusting it, it revealed to be 11th place instead, which made him to toss it aside.

" _~The kind who wins trophies, Won't settle for low fees, At least semi-pro fees, But_ no _!~_ "

As he said, "But no", Phil cringed as Hercules had been fiddling with a dagger he found, and swung it around a bit, but it accidentally chopped a tree causing it to fall on Phil. The duo emerged from the leaves, and Phil's horns were covered in green berries.

"I get the green horn!" He grumbled.

* * *

 _Just a little bit before Zack's and Ven's arrival..._

A little bit later, the trio were cleaning up both the training area of the Coliseum for their training and competition use, as well as remaking and cleaning up the training area on the island; cleaning up the rocks, clearing away broken pieces of large statues and other junk, and cutting away the grass which both Phil and a large group of normal goats were doing.

" _~I've been out to pasture, pal, my ambition gone, Content to spend lazy days and to graze my lawn~_ "

 _Between the visits of Terra and Grovyle, Serenity and Aqua, and Jason and Mickey..._

Despite quickly being requested by a teenaged swordsman named Zack who also wanted Phil to train him which caused some slight problems for Hercules, luckly, another teenaged boy with a strange Key-like sword named Ventus helped with little bit of Hercules' training to get the kid out of the gutter and as both Hercules and Zack had competed against each other, the contest was held off as strange monsters threatened to destroy the coliseum.

Thanks to Hercules and Ven, with the little bit of aid from Zack, not only the competition was saved, but Phil also chose Hercules to train since the kid was faster to help Ven when the teen needed. Zack was a little disheartned, but he shrugged it off and decided to stay. Instead, the black-haired teen used his time to compete in the Coliseum as part of his training while Phil continued to train Hercules.

Hercules also trained during the other visits of others after Ven left, having made new friends of Herc' himself, Phil and Zack; such as a young 18 year old man with a similiar weapon to Ven's, named Terra, and his companion Grovyle who both competed in the Coliseum and Terra quickly became a hero at his first win, and even saved Zack. Shortly after that, two young beautiful women, 'Sailor Moon' and Aqua, came as well and that Hercules learned a valuable lesson from both of them and Zack.

Now, while two more new friends, an eleven year old blue haired boy named, ironically, Jason, and Mickey Mouse, a humaniod mouse with a personality of a human, were training in the Coliseum with Zack, Hercules was training now how to shoot a bow and arrow.

" _~But you need an advisor, A satyr, but wiser, A good merchandiser and_ Whoa!~"

Phil tried to show him how it was done, only to end up being sent flying through the obstecle course until his horns hit the target, before he groaned as he held his stomach, "There goes my ulcer!"

* * *

 _During the Final battle against Xehanort in "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep"..._

The two were then doing aerobics, but as Phil tried to get Hercules to mimick his movements, the kid only ended up repeating some of the previous parts and ended up making himself silly by dancing just for the fun of it.

" _~I'm down to one last hope and I hope it's you~_ "

* * *

 _During the ending of "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep"..._

Days later, Hercules tried to thrust up his muscle. Phil measures it, shakes his and gestures for him to do push-ups while Pegasus also layed on the ground, counting the ones he did with his right front leg, and Zack watched on from the gates of the Coliseum, thinking that his squats are better than push ups.

" _~Though kid, you're not exactly a dream come true~_ "

* * *

 _A week after the events of "Sailor Moon 0-Birth By Sleep"..._

A week later, Hercules had a spoon in his mouth while on the spoon was an egg, as he used this to practice his perfect balance on a tight rope, while Zack and Pegasus watched on. Zack had decided to stick around and see if he could help out his friends with Herc's training, as the two of them, having recongised each other, became good friends along with Pegasus and admittedly, with Phil who would sometimes still get annoyed with the training.

" _~I trained enough turkeys who never came through~_ "

But Hercules then lost his balance and the egg falls on Phil's head where it is fried by his anger despite the goat-man trying not to scream out or yell.

" _~You're my only last hope, So you'll have to do~_ "

He then groaned in disgust as Pegasus licked the perfectly fried egg off his head for breakfest, and Hercules smirked as the spoon was fully stuck in his mouth, and Zack ended up cringing at Pegasus eating the egg off Phil's head.

* * *

One day, Phil had a girl doll strapped to a stake as a fire burned around her, and as part of his training, it was Hercules' job to save her. Zack watched on, memorizing it as he would one day use this as his part of training.

"Rule #6: When rescuing a damsel," Phil began, before blowing through his wristle to start, quickly adding, "Always handle with care."

Hercules dashed forward and tried to grab her off the stake but broke off her feet. As Hercules made his way across a log, he tripped on a small stick, falls over which causes the log to snap in half and he and the doll fell into the river below.

"No!" Phil shouted, while Zack and Pegasus cringed. In the water, Hercules recovered, but the same wouldn't be said for the doll as it's head slowly pops off while floating away. He sighed. This wasn't going to be as easy as he thought.

Another day, Phil has now set up a number of targets which was part of Hercules training in throwing knives at future monsters that may appear in the future.

"Rule #95, kid: Concentrate!" Phil called out.

Hercules took a bunch of knives and flinged them towards the targets, but they were badly aimed and he, Zack and Pegasus covered their eyes when the trio realised where the knives were heading towards to. Thankfully, when they heard Phil's voice, they risked to peek and cringed as the knives had barely missed impaling Phil at a tree.

"Rule #96: **AIM!** "

* * *

 _During the beginning and middle events of "Kingdom Hearts: Before Crisis"..._

During winter, as years slowly but rather quickly began to pass by, training continued. This time, the rather now demented doll was hanging perilously off an edgy cliff and as training, Hercules had to swing his way to save her without further damage. At Phil's signal, Hercules swung and grabbed onto the doll, saving her, while Zack and Pegasus watched on. Mickey came to visit for a couple of days for some little training of his own and explained to Zack that Jason had gone home after finding Grovyle, and didn't know when they would see the two of them again, though Mickey didn't tell anyone about the future-fates of the two or where they actually came from, feeling a little guilty about it, but managed to hide it.

" _~Demigods have faced the odds and ended up a mockery~_ "

Too bad that little success was short-lived as Hercules, not paying fully attention, ended up having the doll smashed against a mountain ice pike, leaving him with only the doll's arm, much to his confusion, exasperation of Phil, and dumbfoundment of Mickey, Zack and Pegasus who shared glances with the goat-man.

" _~Don't believe in the stories that you read on all the crockery~_ "

* * *

Early Spring a couple of months later, Hercules tried the target practice and knife-throwing again, and this time both Zack and Pegasus were helping by moving wooden-monster dummies on a moving...vehicle thingy with four levers? Hercules misses again, slightly cutting a bit of Zack's hair while Zack had to duck to save his face, and Pegasus's top hair was half cut off as well, while the Swords land just in front of the dummies.

" _~To be a true hero, kid, is a dying art, Like paintin' a masterpiece,~_ "

Phil sighed as Hercules, in frustration, casually flung the last knife and it hit one cut out in the painted on heart, making him and Phil smile as Hercules was finally making progress. Zack and Pegasus smiled as well. Finally, they were getting somewhere.

" _It's a work of heart~_ "

Couple of years later, things were starting to look up, and soon Phil, Hercules, Zack and Pegasus were going slow yoga as the sun was setting, and despite Zack not being offically trained by Phil as Hercules was, together, both boys were becoming muscular in strength and slowly becoming young adult men. Even Pegasus was earning some muscle as well.

" _~It takes more then sinew, Comes down to what's in you~_ "

* * *

 _Seven years later-During the late events of "Kingdom Hearts: Before Crisis" and one year before the events of "Kingdom Hearts: Crisis Core" and "Sailor Moon-Season 1"..._

 _ **Realm of Light Time-1995...**_

" _~You have to continue to grooooow!~_ "

Hercules, who is now grown up at 18 years of age, extremely well practiced in the training exercises, was once again having his arm measured pushed the measuring tape until it breaks. "Now that's more like it!" Phil cheered.

* * *

For the final test, Phil had set up a rather deadly obstacle course, leaving Hercules slightly nervous at the sight of metal spikes chomping, thumping fists, giant swinging axes, two sharks that leaped from both sides, and a ring of fire which the girl doll was trapped inside...and which the doll itself had seen better days. Mickey had returned for another visit and he, Zack and Pegasus were all wide eyed in sheer horror of the obstecle course.

" _~I'm down to one last shot and my last high note, Before that blasted Underworld gets my goat~_ "

Phil flapped the flag at his signal and Hercules began the course, leaving Pegasus biting his nails on his hoves in worry, Zack, who also grew up and wearing a uniform now similiar to Angeal's but still blue like he wore when he was a teenager, now aged 22, cheering Hercules on and Mickey was shaking with worry. The king himself(though he still hasn't admitted that he was a king to his friends of this world), now wore red shorts with blue stripes on the front, a black shirt with large yellow bottons, the tip of his sleeves were red, yellow and black shoes with blue bands, and of course, his traditional white gloves.

" _~My dreams are on you, kid, Go make them come true~_ "

Hercules swung past the pendulums and the bear trap, smashed the fist casually, tossed aside the two sharks, and jumped through the hoop with the doll in perfect condition. When several enemies appeared, Sora pulled out his sword, bent it in the middle, and tossed it, so that it severed all the enemies' heads and came back to his hand, which he flicked to bend it back straight.

" _~Climb that uphill slope! Keep pushing that envelope, You're my one last hope, And kid, it's up, to, yoooooooooou!~_ "

Pegasus, Zack and Mickey clapped seeing that Hercules finished the course successfully as they and Phil joined up with him.

"Yeah!" Phil cheered.

By now, Hercules had had mastered his strength, so he could hold back when he had to and unleashed it when he needed to. He then unexpectedly tossed the doll onto Phil's head, now rendering it completely useless and nothing but pieces of junk after seven years of torture.

"Didja guys see that?" Hercules asked excitedly, as he lifted Pegasus up with ease, after giving Zack and Mickey a high-five easily. "Next stop…Olympus!"

After shaking the doll off, Phil said casually to Hercules, "Alright, just take it easy, champ."

Zack laughed and pointed out, "Hey, how can Herc' here take it easy? He's like me: Ready for a bigger challenge." starting to do his squats again as always.

"Gosh, you fellas are both very alike!" Mickey laughed at his two friends.

"Can you blame us? Besides, Zack has a point, and I'm ready! I wanna get off this island! I wanna battle some monsters…" Hercules began, wrestling with Pegasus before stopping, and continued, "Rescue some damsels." while his horse-friend fell dramatically, pretending to be a damsel, and then Herc' concluded, "You know, heroic stuff."

"Yeah and I've gotta become a hero too, and win a date with Aqua we promised seven years ago!" Zack added, stopping his squats with a grin, remembering the gullible promise he made with the blue-haired woman who whipped Hades to shape.

Mickey, who still had been unable to find where Aqua, Terra or Ven had disappeared to, flinched visibly, but thankfully no one else noticed. Instead, he nervously grinned and asked, as calmly as he could without breaking the news and not wanting to break Zack's heart, thoguh he was still very surprised, "You asked Aqua to go on a date?"

"Yeah...and also to fight against Terra for a rematch, fair and square." Zack added, blushing a little.

' _If only Terra didn't just disappear while Aqua didn't just vanish...as for Ven, I wish I knew where his heart is...and how am I gonna help Jason and Grovyle to stop Temporal Tower from collasping? And poor Serenity...especially in the past..and the Silver Crystal too...but I promised not to tell anybody about that._ ' Mickey thought to himself. He shook it off and decided to focus on that later. Besides, he was admittedly excited to see how far Herc' and Zack had gone in their training.

"Well..." Phil began.

"Aww, c'mon, Phil!" Herc' and Zack both whined together with huge grins on their faces.

Mickey shrugged and decided to pretend to be innocent-baby like, then he clampsed his hands together while Pegasus tapped his front hooves together, both of them surprisingly pleading in unison, " _Pleeease?_ "

"Well, okay, okay." Phil said with a smile, declaring as he knew the perfect location to make a head start on the real challenge, "You want a road test? Saddle up, kids. We're going to Thebes!" Phil declared.

"Hot-dog!" Mickey cheered.

"Oh yeah!" Zack cheered happily.

"Yahoo!" Hercules cheered along with Pegasus.

* * *

A little while later, the four of them rode on Pegasus high in the sky, on their way to the huge city Thebes. Neither of the younger three had actually ventured to Thebes before, which made them curious on what it was actually like.

Mickey then spoke up the question that was on his, Zack's and Hercules' minds, "Say uh, Phil? What's in Thebes?"

"A lotta problems." Phil said simply, "Big, tough town. Good place to start buildin' a rep."

Just then...

" _Arrrraaaggghhh!_ " A sudden ear pierching screaming startled the five of them.

"Sounds like trouble." Zack realised.

"Sounds like your basic D-I-D." Phil jerked a thumb to the forest below, translating, "Damsel-"

"Hiyah!" Hercules, sensing trouble and deciding that this was a heads start to be a hero, spured Pegasus down to zoom into the forest, and both Mickey and Zack hanged on for dear life at the sudden movement that caused them to cry out in alarm.

"In Distreeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-!" Phil yelled as he'd been unable to finish just as Pegasus dived down all of the sudden.

When they landed and slid off, Mickey held a hand to his forehead, feeling dizzy at the sudden unexpected landing which he half-expected to experience an awful crash-landing. Zack didn't fare much better as he shook his head, muttering softly about Hercules, "Drives like a crazy person."

Phil had ended up landing in the bushes as that happened, and Hercules and Pegasus both mumured their apologies before all five of them carefully ventured through the woods to find the source of the scream. They didn't have to go too far. In fact, in just five steps, the group peek through the bushes near a very shallow river near a waterfall. There, a young woman, possibly a year or two younger than Hercules, having redish brown long hair, violet-blue eyes, and a long pink dress named Megara, or Meg for short, as she trying to escape from a blue centaur with a black horse body and the blue torso, arms, and face of a man...even though his teeth were razor sharp.

"Not so fast, sweetheart." The centuar said in raspy voice, immediately grasping Meg by her waist with his gigantic hand.

"Ugh! I swear, Nessus!" Meg threatened, "Put me down, or I'll...!" she tried to kick his face, but missed.

"I like 'em fiery!" The centaur said with a steely gleam in his eye, which disgusted the young woman.

Hercules, seeing this, felt his anger grow as he suddenly knew he had to do something. It angered him at the fact that the centuar was doing such a horrible thing to an innocent woman. In fact, he didn't even register at what Phil was saying to him.

"Now remember, kid. First, analyse the situation. Don't just barrel in there without thinkin'-" Phil was instructing, only to cut himself off when he realised that Hercules was suddenly not there, though, thankfully, the others were.

"Herc?" Zack blinked, as he too had expected to share a glance with his friend only to have discovered that he wasn't there.

"Oh no!" Mickey groaned in dismay as he saw where Hercules had gone off too. When the others heard this, Zack, Pegasus and Phil looked in the same direction and saw that Hercules was already making his way towards the centuar, much to their dismay.

Phil growled in irritation by this, "He's losin' points for this!" crossing his arms against his chest.

As the cantuer attempted to give Meg a kiss, Hercules stood boldly as he ordered the horse-man, "Halt!" the other two heard him and both saw the unfamiliar young man. Now where did _he_ come from, both of them wondered?

"Step aside, Two-Legs." The centaur growled as he walked right up to Hercules' face.

"Pardon me, my good uh...uh..." Hercules began in a polite authority, only to pause as he failed to describe the centuar, before resuming his position and authority, "...sir. I'll have to ask you to release that young-"

"Keep moving, junior." Meg groaned while still trying to free herself, not in a mood to handle with anymore guys today.

"...Lady." Hercules finished, now awkwardly at what the girl just said. He then asked to Meg, "But you ... are-aren't you ... a damsel in distress?"

"I'm a damsel." Meg began, sarcastically as she continued to struggle. "I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day."

From the bushes, the others were unable to believe the scene before them. Awkwardly, Zack then muttered to himself, "Not the kind of heroic stuff I had in mind."

"This is gonna be a disaster." Mickey cringed, and he knew that this wasn't going to end very well.

Hercules, while not getting what Meg was talking about, quickly resumed his authority tone, "Ma'am, I'm afraid you may be too close to the situation to realise-" but as he was pulling out his sword, Nessus immediately punched him which send him flying into the stream.

His friends cringed, before Phil shouted, "Oooohh! What are you doin'?"

"Grab your sword, quick!" Mickey quickly cried out.

"Sword!" Hercules said as his senses came back, and immediately fished around in the water for his weapon "Right, right. Rule #15: A hero is only as good as his weapon."

But instead of his sword which he thought he felt, Hercules was holding out a fish at the centuar and quickly realised his mistake. Nessus bursted into hysterical laughter at the pathetic scene, while Meg just raised an eye-brow, looking bored. The Fish, seeing the scary Centuer, shrieked in fright before amazing flew out of Hercules' hand and back into the water. Half a second later, centaur then punched Sora, so that he sailed head first into a rock. The others cringed at this. That had to hurt.

"Okay, that does it!" Zack grunted angrily, already making to grab his sword to help out his friend, and Pegasus seemed to have the same idea, the two of them preparing to help Herc.

"Hold on!" Mickey cried out, quickly stepping in front of Zack with his arms spread out to stop him from doing anything reckless, "You'll just get yourself hurt! Hercules has to do this on his own."

Despite that he wanted to desperately help, Zack forced himself to calm down and sighed, lowering his arm. Mickey was right. It wasn't really heroic for Hercules if he always had help. To become a true hero, he had to do this on his own in situations like this. The only thing Zack, Mickey, Phil and Pegasus can do was cheer him on. Phil in the meantime stopped Pegasus from doing something similiar.

As Hercules got up, slightly dazed and spat out water that came dangerously close in entering his lungs, Zack called out to him, "C'mon, man! Concentrate!"

"Try thinking of a stragedy to catch him off-guard!" Mickey cheered him on.

"Use your head!" Phil coached.

Hearing all three suggestions, Hercules smiled as their words gave him a very literal idea on how to use his head. Plus, as Nessus was once again busy with Meg and believing that he would give up, it gave the young man the advantage. So, he immediately got up and rushed towards the centaur and head butted him into the rock behind a waterfall, and this act also released Meg who fell into the stream.

"Yeah!" Zack and Mickey both cheered.

"You did it!" Zack cheered happily.

"Way to go, Herc!" Mickey said, happily, laughing.

"All right! Not bad, kid!" Phil called out, as Pegasus whistled. He then shrugged at what happened once he realised how Hercules managed to do it. "Not exactly what I had in mind, but not bad."

Mickey then shrugged with a smile as he pointed out, "Well, ha, at least it did catch that giant horse off-guard."

The girl in the meantime, sat up, coughing as she was soaking wet from her unexpected landing. Seeing this made Hercules cringe, before he apologetically picked her up and carried her to a rock and sat her there next to his friends, saying to her, "Oh...gee, Miss, I'm...I'm really sorry. That was dumb."

"Yeah." Meg agreed, as she parted her hair that got in front of her, so that she can gaze at him.

Just then, the two of them heard angry running and turned to see the Centuar, now furious, gallope towards them to attack again. Hercules, seeing that the fight wasn't over, quickly said to Meg, "'Scuse me." and immediately rushed at the centaur, jumped on his back, and put him in a headlock while punching him several times and tossed him back into the stream.

"Go, Herc!" Zack cheered as he stood at Meg's right, while Phil stood at the woman's right. Mickey stood at Zack's left.

"Le'm have it!" Mickey cheered on.

Meg had to admit, she was admittedly impressed by the guy's unusual strength while she squeezed water out of her hair. Annoyed, but admittedly impressed. She then had to ask, half-sarcastically, "Is Wonderboy here for real?"

"I'd say this is a dream, but thankfully in this case, it's not." Zack replied with a grin.

"What are you talkin' about? Of course he's real." Phil pointed out, not getting what the others were talking about, until he got a good look at Meg, and his eyes widened. Such beauty...and he was this close to her!

"Whoa!" He yelped. He then smoothed his thin hair back to sleak it, and said to Meg womanizingly, climbing onto her lap, "And by the way, sweet cheeks-I'm real too." pluckering his lips and made kissy faces, which, in retrospect, embarrassed Zack who facepalmed himself and groaned and Mickey held a shocked and disgusted look at the goat-man's actions.

Meg, in disgust, groaned before she shoved Phil off her lap and continued to dry herself off, pretending that nothing happened while Phil landed in the water. Zack then gazed at his friend and commented, "You know, you kinda deserved that, Phil."

Hercules in the meantime, rode the centaur like he was the horse at a rodeo, hollaring, "Yee-hah! Yahoo! Yeehoo!"

Phil, once again easily dumped by a woman, just emerged from the water and glared at her while having had a fish swim halfway into his mouth. After a second, he spat the fish out and tossed it back into the stream before making his way back to the shore.

Hercules then finishes off Nessus in a spectacular fight, including grabbing onto a branch, sending Nessus up and over the branch and causing Nessus to crash into the stump, then finishing him completely off by punching him miles into the air, screaming in alarm. Pegasus looks up in approval, while both Zack and Mickey looked up, quite amazed.

"Holy..." Zack muttered, wide-eyed.

"Wow..." Mickey muttered.

Nessus then came back down, screaming as he did before crashing into the stream before quickly resurfacing, unable to believe what just happened, but he was unable to even think about that, because his horse-shoes, which flown off him as he was punched into the sky, came back down and hit him on the head, one by one, forming a lump. The last shoe came down and stayed around the lump. While Nessus was dazed, Mickey, Zack and Pegasus cheekily tapped him once and he fell over into the water, defeated and unconscious. Pegasus then walked over him and then shoved the Centuar's head further into the water before flying off back to shore, with Mickey and Zack quickly following as they both laughed at Nessus's defeat.

While Phil was shaking the water off, Hercules had finally retrieved his sword and walked back onto the shore triumphantly, asking, "How was that, Phil?"

"Rein it in, rookie." Phil grumbled, as he approached the trainee as he pointed out, angry with what happened today, "You can get away with mistakes like that in the minor decathlons, but this is the big leagues." he tapped the medallion that was now in the middle of Hercules' belt.

"At least I beat 'im, didn't I?" Hercules sighed.

"Next time don't let your guard down because of a pair of big goo-goo eyes!" Phil shouted, "Oh! It's like I keep tellin' ya. You gotta stay focused, and you-" only to flop his arm in sheer annoyance when he saw that Hercules once again had his eyes on Meg who was now leaning near the shore to squeeze out the rest of the water out of her hair and clothes.

"Gee, that was swell, Hercules! You did a great jo-uh, huh?" Mickey blinked as Hercules walked passed him, as though he didn't hear him.

"Uh, Herc?" Zack tried, but like the others, he was ignored, as his friend walked past him.

Pegasus then tried as he held out his hoove for a high-five, but was stunned as his best friend ignored him. Seeing Hercules go over to Meg, the horse was now furious as his head turned bright red in anger, before snorting as he crossed his front legs against his chest, glaring. Phil did the same thing, only instead, he baa'ed. Mickey and Zack on the other hand, while finding Meg's attitude a bit much, they quickly understood Hercules' sudden attraction of the girl and smirked.

"Uh-huh." Mickey smiled, before saying in a sing-song tone, "I know what Hercules just got."

"Oh yeah, and boy did he get hit really hard." Zack nodded in agreement as he placed his hands on his hips while shaking his head with a smile. It was about time too. He'd been worried that, despite having learned his friend's true past, that Hercules would never fall for someone. Now Zack was glad that it actually happened, and the girl herself was really beautiful. Made him somewhat jealous, but he'll get over it.

"Are you...uh, alright, miss..." Hercules began, only to have his face accidently flicked by Meg's wet hair as she stood up.

"Megara." Meg introduced herself, continuing as she squeezed water from her sandel, "My friends call me Meg, or at least they would if I had any friends." before asking with a smile, "So...did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorials?"

Hercules chuckled shyly. He never felt this way before with women, and he only met a handful in his life. There was just...something incredibly different with Meg. She was...just amazing. He couldn't help but admire her beauty, her voice, and her strong spirit. "Uh, I'm, uh...uh...uh."

"Are you always this articulate?" Meg asked, as she walked off to sit by a tree trunk to put her shoes back on once they were dry.

"Hercules!" Hercules quickly said as his brain started to work again, "My, *ahem*-My name's Hercules."

"I'm Zack. Pleasure to meetcha." Zack quickly spoke up as he and the others joined Hercules's side.

"And I'm Mickey, and this is Phil, and Pegasus." Mickey concluded kindly, though he couldn't help but notice the sheer annoyed glares both Phil and Pegasus were giving Meg, and despite that there was something odd about the young woman, she seemed friendly in her own way.

Meg waved a quick hello the others, then said to Hercules, "Hercules, huh? I think I prefer Wonderboy."

Pegasus, clearly not liking Meg, made to have one of his wings to block Hercules' sight of her, only for him to move the wing feathers out of the way as he got closer to the young woman, asking about Nessus, "So, uh, how-how-how'd you get mixed up with the, uh-"

"Pinhead with hooves?" Meg finished for him, before explaining, "Well, you know how men are. They think _"no"_ means _"yes"_ and _"get lost"_ means _"take me, I'm yours"_."

Hercules looked confused, as did Zack and Mickey as the latter two muttered, "Huh?" before sharing a glance. Pegasus, as Hercules glanced at him, only shrugged.

Seeing the three boys' confused expressions, Meg then suggested while gesturing at Phil, "Don't worry, Shorty here can explain it to ya guys later." which only made the goat-man growl angrily.

Ignoring Phil's expression, Meg then saluted at Hercules, saying as she was about to leave, "Well, thanks for everything, Herc. It's been a real slice."

"Wait!" Hercules called out, before offering as he gestured Pegasus, "Um...can we give you a ride?"

Pegasus, shocked and insulted, immediately snorted before he flew up into a tree and landed on a branch, growling angrily at Meg who took this as a warning which translated, 'Don't-even-think-about-it-sister'. She even said to Hercules when she saw this, "Uh...I don't think your pinto likes me very much."

"Pegasus?" Hercules asked, "Oh, no, don't be silly! He'd be more than happy to-" only to be cut off when an apple bonked him on the head as it feel from the tree. "Ow." he grumbled, glaring up at Pegasus who rested and whistled innocently.

"She's right; he _really_ doesn't like her." Zack commented, shrugging as he crossed his arms. Like Mickey, there was something a bit off about Meg, but she didn't come across to him as a threat.

If Meg was insulted by Zack's comment, she didn't show it. Instead, she gently tapped Hercules' cheek with her fist to prove her point, "I'll be alright. I'm a big, tough girl. I can tie my own sandals and everything." before turning to leave and walked off, waving a farewell to the group, "Bye-bye, Wonderboy, and everybody else."

"Bye." Hercules waved in return, dreamily.

"See ya." Zack waved with a smile.

"See ya real soon." Mickey waved.

While Phil groaned in annoyance as he _really_ didn't like Meg at all, Hercules, obviously having fallen in love already, said dreamily, "She's...something, isn't she, guys?"

"Well, she is hot, that's for sure." Zack nodded in agreement, before admitting, "Though I have to admit, probably not my type."

"I don't know." Mickey spoke up, "Sure, she is a nice girl, but there's something else about her I can't figure out what it is, yet." before asking Phil, "How 'bout you? What do you think?"

"Yeah, oh yeah. She's really something." Phil began sarcastically before yelling, "A real pain in the patella!" before climbing onto the still day-dreaming Hercules, knocking him on the head, "Earth to Herc! Come in Herc! Come in Herc! We got a job to do, remember?"

He then whistled, and immediately Pegasus scooped all four of them up and took flight to the rest of the way to Thebes, as Phil continued, "Thebes is still waitin'."

Hercules finally snapped out of his daze, and nodded, but still had half in mind about Meg, "Yeah. Yeah. I know."

However, little did the five of them know, there was more to Meg than meets the eye and it would make a huge impact of what was going to happen in the extremely near future.

* * *

 **A/N: This ended up being longer than I thought, but not to worry. I'll be with the next chapter as soon as possible! See you real soon!**


	4. CHAPTER 4: Zero to Hero

**Author's Note: Not much to say, so let's continue on.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 4: Zero to Hero.**

Not having gone too far, Meg watched Hercules and his friends take off while shaking her head slightly before groaning both for how sappy she was acting and what she had to do now. So turning, she made her way into a dark forest nearby where the trees were dark and black, and had no leaves, and were leaning in. She didn't go far as she encountered a small rabbit and a gopher.

"Aww, how cute." Meg said, sarcastically, "A couple of rodents lookin' for a theme park.

The rabbit glared up at her, saying in an very familiar gruffy voice, "Who you callin' a rodent, sister? I'm a bunny!" pointing at his fluffy tail to prove the point.

"A-and I'm his gopher!" The gopher said in another familiar voice, before he and the rabbit both immediately turned into that of Pain and Panic, the two devils showing off like they just finished an impressive act at a circus, "Ta-dah!"

Meg rolled her eyes as she groaned, but not all that surprised. "Ugh, I thought I smelled a rat."

"Meg." Another familiar voice spoke, as Meg then felt a smokey hand holding up her chin, causing her to see Hades standing right there. As it turned out, Meg was one of those unfortunate people who got caught up in Hades' deals, selling her soul to him and now has to spend her life serving him as his slave.

"Speak of the devil." Meg muttered, as Hades then dragged her next to him, before she waved his arm off that then returned to it's normal solid form.

"Meg, my little flower, my little bird, my little _nut_ Meg." Hades greeted, before asking, a bit dumbfounded, "What exactly happened here? I thought you were gonna persuade the river guardian to join my team for the uprising, and here I am kind of river guardian-less." while materializing a boardgame, which on it had the figurine of the Centuar from earlier.

"I gave it my best shot, but he made me an offer I had to refuse." Meg replied, before flicking the Centuar figure away where it landed on the ground with a thud, before walking off a few paces to stand by another tree, her back turned to Hades who, while annoyed, decided that it wasn't the end of the Underworld.

"Fine. So instead of subtracting two years from your sentence, hey, I'm gonna add two on, okay? Give that your best shot." He said calmly while poofing the chest-board away.

"Look, it wasn't my fault!" Meg snapped, "It was this Wonderboy, Hercules."

Hades froze in shock, his pupils shrinking in sudden anger. Did he hear just right? No...it cannot be. It was just not possible! That brat was supposed to be dead! Unless...

Behind him, Pain and Panic, who also heard this, suddenly started to get nervous despite the fact that, after 18 years, they forgot the certain incident...until now.

"Hercules..." Panic said, nervously, "Why does that name ring a bell?"

"I don't know..." Pain replied, before shrugging, almost as nervous as his friend, "Maybe we owe 'im money?"

"What, was that name, again?" Hades questioned, wanting to make it more clear and seriously hoped that he heard wrong.

Too bad that hope was boiled.

"Hercules." Meg repeated.

Hades grunted in sheer anger. He knew it...those two useless minions of his had lied to him. They actually lied! All these years thinking that he had nothing to worry about, believing that Zeus's sunspot brat was actually dead, and despite being defeated by six mortal brats, first Terra and Grovyle when he failed to turn them and Zack to Darkness seven years ago, then in that same month short time later, defeated again along with the false version of the Ice Titan by a silverbird named 'Sailor Moon', and her bluebird friend named Aqua, and then after that, defeated the third time along with Cerberus by not only that fourteen year old hero-wanna be, but also by a humaniod mouse named Mickey and an eleven year old brat named Jason who was looking for Grovyle, none of them were seen after that and Hades all but figured that they died, so he didn't have to worry about them save for Zack, but as far as Hades was concerned, that mosquito was more of a sore loser.

But now not only Hades had Zack to worry about, but Hercules who is very much alive and by Meg's description, he defeated Nessus. The Lord of the Dead turned angrily towards Pain and Panic who were both oblivious of his head turning sheer bright fiery red in anger which also turned his hair into normal fire colour.

And all the while Meg was continuing, still not gazing at Hades and what she said only made things worse, "He comes on with his big, innocent farm boy routine, but I could see through that in a Peloponnesian minute, with a cute little mouse-boy and this other country boy."

Mouse-boy...so that Mickey Mouse was back too!? That did it. Hades was at his boiling point. Now he had Hercules, Zack and Mickey to handle and with the three of them combined...suddenly he remembered the vision the Fates showed him all those years ago; Now it made sense and along the vision already started to come true; the five of the eight warriors were 'Sailor Moon', Aqua, Terra, Grovyle and Jason. Who the sixth one was, Hades didn't know as he never met or even heard of Ventus. But still, the ones who would help Hercules to defeat him...were none other than Zack who was the swordsman, and Mickey who was the mouse with the Keylike sword.

Oh, now he was very furious. And it was all Pain and Panic's fault!

"Wait a minute." Pain quickly realised, sharing a worried glance with Panic as his memory finally returned, "Wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were s'posed to—"

He didn't get the chance to finish, as Pain and Panic both turned to see Hades glaring at them, and both immediately knew that they'd finally been busted and found out. "OH, MY GODS!" They both shrieked in unison as Hades stretched his arms out towards them.

They tried to run away by climbing over a fallen tree, but unfortunately for them, Hades grabbed them by their tails and pulled them towards him, despite their failing attempts to claw the ground to free themselves as he began angrily in heavy sarcasm, "So you took care of him, huh? _"Dead as a doornail"._ "

He then gripped them by their necks, continuing furiously as his hair turned orange, "Weren't your _**exact**_ words?"

"This might be a different Hercules." Pain croaked.

"Yeah! I mean Hercules is a-" Panic's neck was then strangled so tightly by Hades that the green-ish blue devil could only raspily choke the rest of his sentence, "- _v_ e _r_ y _p_ o _p_ u _l_ a _r_ _n_ a _m_ e _n_ o _w_ ad _ays_!"

"Remember, like, a few years ago, every other boy was named Jason like the one seven years ago, and the girls were all named Brittany?" Pain continued feebly.

"I'm about to rearrange the cosmos..." Hades began, before he tossed Pain and Panic onto the ground, the two of them immediately turning into insects as soon as he began to literally explode in severe anger, " _And_ _ **the one schmiel, the one mosquito and one little rat who can all louse it up are WALZTING AROUND IN THE WOOODS!**_ " and that he exploded so much fire that they bursted out in all directions like volcanos erupting that it destroyed all of the dark trees in the dark woods that they just simply vanished in a matter of seconds that there was no fire on the ground.

Meg had ducked down as a flash of fire passed over before she stood up. All of the trees were now smoldering stumps, as Hades returned to normal and panted at such exploding anger that was rare, even for him, to feel in most of the eternity. The only blessing was that his three slaves were alive, but at the moment, he needed someone to kill to really cool off.

"Wait, wait!" Pain squeeked, before he returned to normal as another memory came into mind, "Big guy! We can still cut in on their waltzing, especially Hercules'."

"That's right!" Panic quickly added, also returning to normal as he continued, still nervously, "And-and-and we made him mortal. That's a good thing. Didn't we?"

"And that Mosquito kid and mouse were born mortals, so they don't have the same strength as he does." Pain continued.

"Kills three birds in one stone." Panic concluded.

Hades pondered by these words, and that did calm him down, not to mention make him plot another evil plan. They were right; Hercules is mortal, so he's not invisible. As for Zack and Mickey...they may be fighters, but neither of them can defeat every giant monster despite their seperate training. He then smiled evilly and brought Meg, Pain and Panic to him.

"Fortunately for the three of you, we still have time to correct this rather egregious oversight. And this time, no foul-ups."

Meg really wished she could get out of here, but she was stuck watching Hades's eyes narrow in a sinister smirk, and as far as she knew...she was going to be in the key role to this new plot, this time it was to kill Hercules, Zack and Mickey. Secretly, she began to panic. While she didn't like the three of them that much...they nice innocent boys and treated her much more nicely than Hades, Pain and Panic ever did.

As much as it irked her to admit it...she didn't want Hercules or his friends end up killed.

* * *

Meanwhile, Hercules, Zack, Mickey, Phil and Pegaus flew over Thebes that was much larger than the other town near the Coliseum, and the three younger boys were staring in awe, never having seen a place like this before.

"Wow." Hercules gapped.

"Gosh." Mickey breathed.

"This is all in one big town?" Zack asked, awed. He'd never seen a city this big before, and while it did somehow give him a strange deja vu, it was amazing.

"One town, one million troubles." Phil nodded, "The one and only Thebes. The Big Olive itself. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."

The group landed and moments later were within the crowd of people who were going about their normal everyday lives. The City ran normally enough, as a crossing guard held up a vase to show people when they could cross the street and road with buildings intact.

"Stay with me, kids." Phil said with caution. "This city is a dangerous place."

Unfortunately, Phil didn't see a mad driver on a chariot coming hurling towards them. Mickey did as he cried out to the satyr, "Look out!" only for Phil to be spun around and around Hercules' waist and Zack stepped back in alarm by one step.

"Look where you're goin', numbskull!" The rude driver yelled at Phil who was not clinging onto Hercules' shoulder.

"HEY, I'M WALKIN' HERE!" Phil shouted in return. He then turned to the others and said, stating his point as Hercules gently puts him back down onto the ground, "See what I mean? I'm tellin' you - wackos."

"No kidding." Zack muttered in agreement.

As the group continued on exploring the city, they were unaware that a cloaked man was hiding around the corner that they were about to approach. The moment they were close, they all jumped, startled, and in Phil, Zack and Mickey's case, disgust. The cloaked man had turned around and opened his cloak to all five of them revealing several sundials.

"You wanna buy a sundial?" Asked the man.

"Sorry, not interested." Mickey quickly said, as he and Phil led the others to continue downstairs to the lower part of Thebes, as the salesman then jumped before walking off.

Zack groaned while facepalming himself at what he described as the worst sight he'd ever seen in his entire life. "Ugh, I think I'm gonna have nightmares tonight."

"You're not the only one." Phil groaned. "C'mon, kids."

Just then, a man wearing a trash-can came, hystericaly panicking, "The end is coming! Can't you feel it?" as he approached the group, and Mickey and Zack both tried not to make eye-contact with the creepy guy.

"Yes, yes. Thank you for the info. Yes. We'll ponder that for a while." Phil said to the man before pulling Hercules forward to continue on as Mickey, Zack and Pegasus quickly followed, as the goat-man told the eighteen-year old, "Just stare at the sidewalk. Come on. Don't make eye contact. People here are nuts. That's because they live in a city of turmoil. Trust me, kid, you're gonna be just what the doctor ordered."

* * *

At a small fountain, a group of people were having a conversation and they all looked dejected and annoyed, not to mention devastated.

"It was tragic!" Said a woman in a pink dress and red hair, "We lost everything in the fire!"

"Everything except old Snowball here." A burnt man said, as he held up an equally and shocked cat who meowed weakly, blowing smoke as it did.

"Now were the fires before or after the earthquake?" A large man with black hair and beard asked, trying to remember which disaster struck first recently.

"They were after the earthquake - I remember." A skinny, shaky woman with some kind of pot with handles said.

"But before the flood." The red-haired woman added.

"Don't even get me started on the crime rate." Said an old man with a walking stick.

"Thebes has certainly gone downfall in a hurry." The red-haired woman groaned.

The old man nodded in agreement, " Tell me about it. It seems like every time I turn around there's some new monster wreaking havoc and I—"

"All we need now is a plauge of locust." The burnt man muttered...only for a small innocent locust leap onto the fountain's stone edge and chirped. Everyone screamed as if it was a two-headed giant, which their scream scared the Locust away.

"That's it!" The old man grunted, "I'm movin' to Sparta!"

"Excuse me." Hercules spoke up as he and his friends walked up to them. "It uh ... *ahem* seems to me that what you folks need is a hero."

"Yup, to solve all of your problems, as a matter of fact." Zack added.

The group stared at the two young men skeptically, before the large man questioned, "Yeah, and who're you?"

"Welp, this is Hercules and Zack." Mickey said, after he and Phil pushed them foward, all four of them having agreed that this was also Zack's chance to be a hero alongside Hercules for starters. "They happen to be heroes, Hercules especially."

"Number one right here!" Zack added, as Hercules stood confidently.

The people just laughed before hordering around Hercules while pushing Zack near where Mickey and Phil where, while the old man asked Hercules, "Have you ever saved a town before?"

"Uh, no, uh, not exactly, but I—" Hercules began before he was interrupted by the large man, "Have you ever reversed a natural disaster?"

"Uh...no." Hercules said simply.

The large man rolled his eyes as he and his group walked off, muttering, "Oh, listen to this. He's just another chariot chaser, like that other man and the mouse. This we need!"

"That's a laugh." The skinny woman said.

While Zack and Mickey were speechless, Phil growled before he grunted, "Don't you pea-brains get it?" which caught the group of five turn to his attention as he continued while gesturing at the trio, "This kid's the genuine article and these two are heroes themselves!"

The group stared down at Phil, before the burnt man realised that he looked familiar, asking as a memory came up to him, and a laughing stock at that, "Hey, isn't that the goat-man who trained Achilles?"

"Watch it, pal." Phil growled through his teeth, turning bright red in anger.

"Yeah, you're right." The large man said to his friend with a smirk, before taunting through laughter, "Hey, uh, nice job on those heels! Ya missed a spot!"

Phil by then was growing angrier and angrier until he charged as he yelled, "I got your heel - right here!" and leaped at the large man, beating up him all over the place, "I'll wipe that stupid grin off your face!"

"Hey, Phil!" Hercules cried out as he, Zack and Mickey all immediately leaped to pull their angry friend off the beaten up man.

"Phil! Knock it off!" Zack cried out.

"Phil, stop!" Mickey cried.

Finally the trio managed to pull the furious satyr off, but not before he pulled part of the man's pants off, leaving a hole which revealed the beaten up guy's heart-shaped underwear, while Hercules, who held Phil in his hands, Zack and Mickey told him, "Take it easy, Phil."

"What are you, crazy?" The large man, now missing a tooth and sporting a black eye, asked, panting while slightly traumatized for being beaten up by a raged goat-man. "Sheesh."

The red-haired woman then snobbily told the trio while Phil was panting to cool down, "Young men, we need a professional hero, not an amateur." flipping her hair into Phil's face before walking off with her companions, while Phil himself spat the piece of ripped cloth out of his mouth where it floated to the ground.

"Wait! Stop!" Hercules called out after putting Phil down, but they just kept going. Dejected, he slumped to the ground, leaning against the statue of a man holding the world, as Zack bend down next to him, and Mickey and Phil both stood by him, and Pegasus slumping. "How am I supposed to prove myself a hero if nobody will give me a chance?"

Phil wished that he could answer that, but the hero gig was probably one of the more fickle ones. A town with not enough trouble, and the kid would have to wait maybe years to get a shot. Same thing with Zack. Thebes was so bad that everyone was skeptical of rookies like Hercules and Zack.

"You'll get your chance, buddy." Zack assured, shrugging, "These sort of things doesn't happen overnight."

"He's right, Herc." Mickey agreed, "Besides, ya' just need some kind of trouble, catastrophe or a big disaster."

"Help!" A familiar voice called out, and they turned to see Meg rushing through the streets of Thebes. "Help, please! There's been a terrible accident!"

"Meg?" Hercules and Zack muttered in unison.

"Speakin' of disaster." Phil muttered, uneasily. There was something about the chick he didn't like, and he had no idea why.

"Wonder what happened." Mickey thought, worriedly despite that he had a bad feeling about the situation that was going on. He followed Hercules and Zack to meet up with the woman whom they met just a few hours ago.

"Wonderboy!" Meg called out as soon as she spotted Hercules. "Hercules, thank goodness!"

"Wh-what's wrong?" Hercules asked.

"Outside of town," Meg panted, seemingly out of breath, "Two little boys, they were playing in the gorge. There was this rock slide, a terrible rock slide! They're trapped!"

"That's terrible!" Mickey exclaimed, worriedly.

"Gotta do something!" Zack nodded in agreement, turning to Hercules to tell him, but didn't get the chance to say anything as an excited look filled up his friend's expression.

"Kids? Trapped?" Hercules said, with a mixture of worry and hope. He then shook Zack by the shoulders(and despite Zack being three years older, he was an inch or two shorter than Hercules), saying to him, Mickey and Phil, "Guys! Guys, this is great!"

"You're really choked up about this, aren't ya?" Meg asked, sarcastically.

"Come on!" Hercules said as he pulled Meg to Pegasus who, with a reluctant sigh, allowed them to climb onto him and soon took flight, much to Meg's dismay.

"No, I-you don't under-I have this terrible fear of heights!" Meg said quickly, but by the time she said it, Pegasus was already high in the air and she whimpered, clinging onto Hercules's waist for dear life. Pegasus, who like Phil, felt that something was off about her, chuckled in amusement by her fear, and flew faster, both to see if the children were alright and to just scare Meg on purpose.

"Herc, wait up!" Mickey cried out, giving chase seconds later.

"Hey, wait for me!" Zack cried out, one second behind Mickey to catch up to their friend. Soon everyone in town followed the five of them.

"I'm right behind ya, kids!" Phil cried out, only to end up miles behind the crowd and easily tired out already, panting as he paused to a stop. "Whoo! I'm way behind ya, kids." before running again, Sputtering, "Whoo-ha, I got a fur wedgie."

* * *

The trio eventually landed in the gorge as Meg looked like she was about to throw up, with her hair disheveled from the wind, being a complete mess. Hercules dismounted from Pegasus before gazing at the young woman, asking, "Are you okay?" while the said horse silently sniggered in amusement at the sight.

"I-I'll be fine." Meg said, weakly, "Just get me down before I ruin the upholstery."

Pegasus in respose thumped Meg off him and she landed right into Hercules's arms, just as cries of two young boys, aged from nine and seven, filled the air from underneath a giant boulder.

"Help! I can't breathe!" A blond-haired boy cried out. "Hurry! Get us out!"

"We're suffocating!" A brown-haired boy cried out.

Hercules in response quickly slid down a rock and bend down as the blond-haired boy coughed, "Somebody call IX-I-I!"

"Easy, fellas." Hercules told them calmly. "You'll be alright."

"We can't last much longer." The brown-haired boy moaned.

"Get us out before we get crushed!" The blond-haired boy cried.

By this time, Zack, Mickey and the townspeople had arrived. Hercules then crouched down and grabbed at the bottom of the rock and lifted, with his legs, and after a few seconds, the boulder was off the ground and held up above Hercules' head. Meg's eyes widened slightly at what she saw. That was something you didn't see everyday; Hercules certainly had incredible strength. Zack and Mickey both smiled, proud of their friend. The two boys ran out to safety, and the townspeople gave a polite applause.

"How you boys doin'?" Hercules asked, calmly.

"We're okay now." The tallest boy said, smiling.

"Jeepers, mister, you're really strong!" The brown-haired boy said, awed.

"Well, just try to be a little more careful next time, okay, kids?" Hercules suggested.

"We sure will!" The blond-haired boy replied as he and his friend ran off, while Hercules then tossed the boulder thousands of miles away.

* * *

But what everyone didn't know was that the boys were actually Pain and Panic in disguise and they both secretly joined up with Hades who was sitting on a stone chair, eating Pita Worms he got for himself(Ew!). "Stirring performance, boys. I was really moved." He said with a mouthful of food.

" _'Jeepers, mister'_?" Panic asked to Pain in annoyance as the two of them returned to normal. Where'd Pain get an annoying comment like that? And why did he have to say it to Hercules?

"I was going for innocence." Pain defended proudly.

"And hey, two thumbs way, way up for our leading lady." Hades said as Meg stood there. "What a dish. What a doll."

Meg, who actually cared if Hercules and his friends would get hurt, whispered down to them so that no one else could hear her, "Get out of there, you big lugs, while you still can."

* * *

"Great job, Herc!" Zack praised happily as he and Mickey met up with Hercules who rechieved a clap on the back by the spiky-haired man, just as Phil walked forward, finally having caught up, and was breathing heavily, out of breath.

"Thanks." Hercules smiled to his friend, before gesturing at the crowd, "They even applaud...a little."

Suddenly, Mickey sensed something from the darkness of the cave where the boulder once covered, and sensed terrible darkness. Something was in there...something...huge, monsterous...and extremely dangerous. "Uh, fellas? W-What do ya' suppose is in there?" He asked, nervously.

"Whaddya' mean?" Zack asked, puzzled at what suddenly got Mickey so scared.

Suddenly, a low growl quickly answered their questions and soon they, Hercules and Phil quickly gazed at the darkness where the growl came from. Phil gasped in sudden fear, before pointing out to Hercules, "I hate to burst your bubble, kid, but that ain't applause."

Out from the darkness of the cave, stomped a dark pink dragon with rip wings behind his head that made him appear to be wearing a crown, long neck like a snake, long fangs and sharp rows of teeth, and only on two legs, it's tongue slithering like a snake, very green and slimy saliva on it. Dark menecing eyes stared darkly at the group who slowly backed away, their hearts pounding in nervousness that they were afraid that it would burst.

"Uh oh..." Mickey muttered, eyes wide in terror. He'd seen terrifying monsters before, but this giant dragon, known as Hydra, looked very dangerous...and given the look in it's eyes...it looked very hungry too, waiting for mortal flesh.

"He looks hungry." Zack muttered with wide eyes of disbelief. Despite having fought Cerberus with Mickey and Jason seven years ago, and seen the Ice Colossas that 'Sailor Moon' and Aqua fought as well as fighting Hades...Zack could tell that this fight was going to suck.

"Ph-Ph-Ph-Phil? What do you call that thing?" Hercules stuttered.

"Two words!" Phil cried out in fear, as the Hydra shrieked and lightning flashed while thunder words, indicating that a storm was coming. The lightning flash just made the giant monster even more terrifying, before the satyr turned and ran, "Am-scray!"

Hercules simply pulled out his sword, and quickly held out an arm to stop Zack from doing the same and also stop Mickey from summoning his weapon, saying to his friends, "You guys go and hide. I'll handle this!"

"No way!" Zack cried out, shocked. Was Hercules crazy? He can't just abandon his friend like this.

"It'll eat you!" Mickey added in agreement.

"Just go!" Hercules urged.

Despite struggling with themselves and not wanting to abandon their friend, seeing that Hercules was serious forced both Mickey and Zack to nod hesitatedly before they ran and hid behind a rock near where Phil was hiding, but they still peeked halfway from the rock, watching anxiously with fear and worry. The crowd, seeing the giant terrifying monster, all screamed and flinched in fear and now hoped that Hercules didn't screw this up, or worse, get eaten.

"Let's get ready to rumble!" Hades called out with a sadistic smile, while Pain grinned and Panic clapped excitedly. This was going to be fun.

Hercules stepped back as Hydra stomped towards him, and soon the fight began.

"That's it. Dance around!" Phil coached. "Dance around! Watch the teeth. Watch

the teeth. Keep on. Come on."

"You can do it!" Mickey called out.

"Herc! Lead with your left!" Zack warned.

Hercules dodged a lunge by the dragon, and it simply ate the ground it had caught in its jaws, but in the confusion, Hercules had lost his sword, which made Zack facepalm and groan, "Your other left."

Thinking quickly as he needed a distraction to get his sword without Hydra getting to him first, he tossed a large flat rock right into Hydra's mouth to block it, but it only bit into it, shattering it into pieces like candy. It laughed evilly, while Hercules quickly rushed to get his sword. Hydra then lunged at him again, but this time, Hercules held its mouth away from him, keeping it open. Hercules then tossed the monster to the unpopulated side of the gorge and made for his sword again. Just as Hercules grabbed it, Hydra manages to catch Hercules around the ankle with its long tongue. It throws him up into the air where he then screamed as he descended...landing right into Hydra's mouth which then slammed shut.

Much to Zack's and Mickey's horror, Hydra swallowed their friend up. Phil groaned in dismay as the monster belched. Meg grabbed her neck, feeling sick. As Hydra licked it's lips, a woman's scream was heard from the crowd, and seeing the large crowd, made towards them.

"Okay, that's it!" Zack grunted angrily, leaped over the rock and made his way to try his luck, despite knowing that his chances of winning was extremely slim, but no one was going to eat his friends and gets away with it! On top of that, he refused to allow Hydra to eat the townspeople as well.

"Right behind ya!" Mickey cried out, just as angry. He didn't care if he and Zack had any chances of winning, but like Zack, Mickey didn't want Hydra to eat any innocent lives.

"Hey!" Zack shouted loudly, which got Hydra's attention, as the young man pulled out his own sword and stood in a fighting position, glaring heatedly at the monster, "Come and get it, nasty lizard!" while Mickey stood beside him, summoning his Star-Seeker Keyblade, also glaring heatedly at the monster.

Despite Phil's protests, Hydra took up the challenge and made to lunge at the duo, only to freeze up and groan, much to Zack and Mickey's confusion. The next thing everyone knew, suddenly a blade appeared at the base of its neck and swung around, revealing Hercules, still alive and had cut the neck from the inside so that the dragon's head flew off and landed on the side, its decapitated body falling to the sidelines as well, and Hercules stumbled out. This time, the applause were much more lively.

While Zack and Mickey were stunned, unable to believe that Hercules had managed to get himself out of the Hydra's stomach and managed to kill it from the insde, Phil cheered on, "Alright! Alright! You're bad! Okay!"

"See, guys?" Hercules said weakly, failing to put his sword away as it ended up on the ground instead, "That- that wasn't so hard." and fell to the ground on his back, passing out, much to his friends' worry. The three of them immediately surrounded him, with Zack kneeling on one knee.

"Herc!" Zack cried out, worriedly.

"Herc, are you okay?" Mickey asked, worriedly, "How many ears do ya see?"

"Six?" Hercules guessed.

"Aw, close enough." Mickey smiled weakly. "Let's get ya cleaned up."

"I gotcha, buddy." Zack smiled warmly as he and the others helped Hercules stand while it started to rain.

Up in the mountain, Panic was whimpering as he was shaking like a rattle and Pain was frozen stiff, nervously. Hades was definitely going to kill them now that Hercules had killed Hydra. To their surprise, Hades was very relaxed, and he said casually, getting comfortable in his seat, "Guys, guys, relax. It's only half-time."

As Hercules, Zack, Mickey and Phil began to walk away, an odd noise of gross crunching came from the beheaded Hydra's body, making them stop and slowly turn around, now once again nervous. "That doesn't sound good." Phil cringed, worriedly.

To their shock, the body then stood up and the hole that revealed the entrance to the stomach closed up, and in a matter of seconds, three new heads emerged, shrieking and grinning evilly at the good.

"Oh, this is not good." Zack muttered, eyes wide.

"Really not good." Mickey added, shaking.

"Definitely not good!" Phil cried out, before running back to his hiding spot when the fight began.

"Whoa!" Hercules, Zack and Mickey all screamed before the three of them, with the latter two having no time to run to their hiding spot this time, running quickly as Hydra attacked again, this time three heads against three opponents with every intention of eating them.

Thinking quickly, Hercules whistled out and Pegasus immediately flew in, scooping him up along with Mickey and Zack, saving the three of them just in time, and now that they had no choice but to fight together, Hercules, Zack and Mickey fought against the Hydra as Pegasus flew while avoiding the heads. Despite the slices of two swords and one Keyblade, no matter how many times they sliced off Hydra's heads, three more sprouted out each time they did, until eventually the four of them were faced with innumberable heads staring hungrily at them.

"I think we just made things worse." Zack muttered worriedly.

"You think?" Both Hercules and Mickey responded worriedly.

"WILL YOU GUYS FORGET THE HEAD SLICING THING!?" Phil shouted in irritation as he came to realise before hand that the slicing thing was only making things worse.

Hercules wished he thought of that sooner. So quickly, the only thing he and his friends could do was try and outmaneuver them. So he had Pegasus flew up quickly to avoid the heads that were stretching up towards them. Unfortunately, one of the heads knocked Pegasus away, sending the trio falling. While Zack and Mickey somehow managed to land onto the edge of a cliff safely, the same wouldn't be said for Hercules as he fell into the den of heads, much to the duo's horror as they cried out his name, unable to save him.

"Zack, I don't think Phil and I had this covered in basic training!" Hercules called out as he slid down one of Hydra's necks when he saw a head, but he grabbed it's tongue and swung away as he made for the wall of the gorge, but the moment he made it, the monster pinned him there with its enormous claws.

Hades grinned. This was perfect. Once Hydra got rid of Hercules, the next victums would be both Zack and Mickey. The Lord of the Dead then said with a sneer, "My favourite part of the game; Sudden death."

Hercules tried to think quickly until he looked at the wall of the gorge and thought of the rock slide Meg told him about. That was it! He knew it was risky, but it was the only way to end this once and for all. As the heads lunged at Hercules, he bashed his fists against the wall, causing another rock slide that buried the monster alive, with Hercules still caught in its claw, which, as it tried to rise up...it fell limp. Dead.

Pegasus whined in horror what just happened, while Mickey and Zack, having hurriedly climbed down to the ground, froze in sheer horror and devastation, as the rain stopped. The townspeople gasped. Hercules had just sacrificed himself to kill the monster.

"Hercules...?" Mickey muttered, hoping for some kind of miracle. But after seconds passed...nothing. His heart ached at the loss. No...not Hercules too! It couldn't be happening. Memories of the losses of Ven, Aqua, Serenity, Jason, Grovyle and Ansem the Wise spun in his head rapidly, and he had to blink to try and prevent forming tears from falling free.

"No..." Zack whispered, breathing shakily as he collasped onto his knees, utter loss and devastation hitting him so hard he wanted all of this to be nothing but a nightmare. Not Hercules...! He can't lose him...he just can't! Tears threatened to fall free, and Zack struggled not to sob at the loss of one of his best friends.

"Oh..." Phil whispered in sadness. "There goes another one. Just like Achilles."

Meg stared on in sadness, before glaring up angrily at Hades who, very pleased to have accomplished this, leaned back in his chair and set as he put a cigar in his mouth and used his finger to light it.

"Game, set, match." Hades said to himself. Now all he had to do was figure how to get rid of Zack and Mickey.

Just then, the claw that had held Hercules, which was still closed, began to move. Everyone gasped when suddenly, they saw that Hercules pushed it open and was standing there, torn, tattered, and breathless, but alive. After a moment of silence, the crowd cheered like there wouldn't be a tomorrow and went wild. Mickey and Zack both gapped happily and sheer relief. Hercules was okay! He was alive! The two then hugged and laughed in such relief, while Mickey unconsciously shed tears while Hercules stepped off the dead Hydra's paw, and waved weakly before he was picked up and carried by the crowd's shoulders.

"You sure had us scared there, pal!" Mickey cried out happily as he and Zack joined the crowd. "I thought we'd lost ya'!"

"Sure gave me a near heart attack, buddy." Zack added, before grinning madly, "But you were absolutely amazing!"

"Well," Hercules began, as Pegasus licked him on the face, "You gotta admit... _that_ was pretty heroic." as he regained his strength.

"Ya did it, kid!" Phil cheered happily, "Ya did it! Ya won by a landslide!"

Hades on the other hand, growled angrily that not only it burned out his cigar, but as he gripped Pain and Panic's heads, he burned them as he turned red in fury again. He couldn't believe it! He'd been so close! SO close in finishing Hercules off!

"Hades, mad!" Panic cried out as he and Pain yelped at the burning heat from their boss.

Meg smiled, very impressed. "Well. Whaddaya know?" and clapped as well. She was starting to like Hercules.

* * *

Back to the Muses in the story-telling part, they began to dance again as Calliope told the viewers/readers with a smile, "From that day forward, our boy Hercules could do no wrong. He was so hot, steam looked cool."

" _~Oh yeah! Bless my soul, Herc was on a roll~_ " She continued.

" _~Person of the week in every Greek opinion poll~_ " Thalia continued happily.

" _~What a pro!~_ " Terpsichore added.

As they narrated, Hercules, with aids of Pegasus, Zack and Mickey through out the week, fought against monsters Hades sent to try and kill him and cause havoc, only for the monsters to be defeated each time. First had been a large black Warthog which met it's end by Hercules' bow and arrow and then served for dinner.

During the non-fighting times, Hercules gained fans from all over Greece, signing autographs.

" _~Herc could stop a show, Point him at a monster and you're talkin' S.R.O.~_ " Calliope continued.

Then she and the other four Muses told everyone the readers together, " _~He was a no one, A zero, a zero, Now he's a honcho, He's a hero! He was a kid with his act down pat, Zero to hero in no time flat, Zero to hero, Just like that! When he smiled the girls went wild, With oohs and aahs~_ "

Hercules and his friends greeted fans who went wild at him like celebraties, especially the girls. Hades each time in the Underworld would get rid of the monster figurines that lost in sheer anger.

" _~And they slapped his face on every vase~_ " Thalia explained while holding a vase that had Hercules' face on it, only for Clio to bonk her on the head in sheer annoyance.

" _~On every "Vahse"!~_ " She corrected, only for Thalia to plonk the vase onto her head, covering it in anger.

The five Muses then continued together, " _~From appearance fees and royalties, Our Herc had cash to burn, Now nouveau riche and famous. He could tell you what's a Grecian urn, Say amen, There he goes again, and undefeated~_ "

As days went back, a large statue of Hercules had been built and completed in the middle of Thebes, money printed for him, and would defeat more monsters, such as kicking a giant Lion away, sending it millions of miles away like a football at a football game.

" _~And an awesome ten for ten~_ " Melepomene added, showing off super ten-points for Hercules' success.

Figurines and merchandise were then made replicating Hercules and his friends as weeks went on and despite Mickey altering from here to Disney Castle, he still rechieved equal credit each day of the week as a few months went by so quickly.

" _~Folks lined up just to watch him flex~_ " The Muses continued.

" _~And this perfect package packed a pair of pretty pecs~_ " Thalia grinned as she held onto a Hercules figurine.

The next monster Hercules took on was a giant bird-monster which he, with Pegasus' help, caged into a giant cage and again, the crowd went so wild that it would never stop.

 _"~Hercie, he comes, he sees, he conquers, Honey, the crowds were goin' bonkers! He showed the moxie, brains and spunk-yeah!~"_

While on a fishing trip with Zack, Mickey and Phil, Hercules stopped a Sea-Serphant and had that as their catch of the day. Hades, in sheer anger, melted the figurine of the Serphant in his palm.

 _"~Zero to Hero~"_

" _~A major hunk!~_ " Thalia grinned as she stood next to a Hercules statue.

 _"~Zero to Hero~"_

"And who'd have thunk?" Calliope grinned with a shrug.

As they continued to praise around the story of Hercules' success, Calliope asked while holding a shield and sword, " _~Who put the glad in gladiator?~_ "

 _"~Hercules!~"_

" _~Who's darin' deeds are great theatre?~_ " Melepomene asked while holding her mask.

 _"~Hercules!~"_

At a theatre, a show was put on based on Hercules' fight against Hydra, which everyone, including Hercules and his friends,(with Mickey having secretly been recording with a video-camera to show Minnie, Donald, Goofy and everyone else back at Disney Castle later on so that they don't miss out) loving it.

Even Hercules' adoptive parents were now living off a much better life, successfully opening up a vase store and earning successful money, proud for their son's success and had moved to near Thebes.

" _~Is he bold?~_ " Melepomene asked.

 _"~No one the braver~"_

" _~Is he sweet?~_ " Terpsichore grinned happily.

 _"~Our favourite flavour!, Hercules! (My man!) Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! (Look at my) Hercules! Hercules! Hercules! Bless my soul, Herc was on the roll!~"_

Hercules, Zack and Mickey teamed up to finish off three ugly monsters with ease while the said monsters landed on top of each other, dazed and utterly defeated in a pile.

Hercules then closed up and sealed the erupting volcano near Mount Olympus, saving all of Greece and with his friends, entered the very first hall of fame. Hades on the other hand, so annoyed and frustrated, he slammed his fists on the chessboard in the Underworld and hit his head against it. This wasn't going well for the Lord of the Dead.

 _"~Undefeated, Riding high~"_

" _~And the nicest guy~_ " Calliope continued.

 _"~Not conceited, He was a nothing, zero, zero, Now he's a honcho, he's our hero! He hit the heights at break-neck speed, Zero to hero! Herc is a hero, Now he's a hero!~"_

"Yes, indeed!" Calliope smiled as a proud confident portrait of Hercules was on another vase.

But despite all of this, the worst of Hades' schemes were yet to come, as well as other few things that Hercules and his friends were about to face. It would be one of their toughest challenges of all time.

* * *

 **A/N: Sorry that this chapter was a bit shorter than the last one, and I tried to make the fight scene okay against Hydra. See you in the next chapter!**


	5. CHAPTER 5: Unexpected Loops

**Author's Note: Today's officially the 20th Anniversary since Disney's Hercules has been released in theatres! Happy Birthday, Hercules!...Too bad I won't be able to finish this story today, but oh well.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 5: Unexpected Loops.**

Hades was furious-okay, scratch that. Let's just say that he was so angry that even furious doesn't even cover it. No matter what he did, all the monsters he'd sent to kill Hercules were single-handedly defeated by Hercules most of the time and occasionly aided by Zack and Mickey. To make things worse, Hercules became more and more famous! Even his friends were getting bit of fame as well and it was driving Hades up the wall.

Hercules even had shoes, drinks and a play named after him! What's next, a movie?

"PULL!" Hades shouted. Pain and Panic tossed up a Hercules vase which their boss blasted into smithereens.

"Nice shootin', Rex." Meg said casually.

"I can't believe this guy and his friends." Hades groaned as he glared down at the city below where he and his minions where, before turning as he went into a rant, "I've thrown everything I've got at them, and it doesn't even-"

He stopped when he heard an odd squeaking which caused Hades to look down to see Pain wearing a pair of Air-Herc, the shoes Hercules endorsed. "What...are...those?" Hades asked menacingly.

"Um...II don't know." Pain said nervously, "I-I thought they looked kinda dashing."

Hades rubbed his forehead as he felt a headache developing, before saying as he was turning angrier and angrier, his hair turning orange as he flared up slowly in fury, "I've got 24 hours to get rid of these bozos, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for _18 years_ goes up in smoke, and _you_ _are wearing_ _ **his**_ _**MERCHANDISE!?**_ "

Pain was about to scream as Hades made to blast him when they both heard a slurping sound. When the two turns to look, Panic was drinking one of the drinks named after Hercules. When he saw Hades's furious look, the blue-green devil chuckled nervously, offering, "Thirsty?"

Hades screamed, and exploded with anger-like, literally. It slightly rumbled the town, and Hercules and everyone else shared confused glances at where the loud boom had come from.

"What in the haystack was that?" Mickey asked, blinking.

When Mickey gazed up at Zack, the latter shrugged, just as confused as he was, "Not a clue."

Back up at the hiding spot, Pain and Panic were charred to the wall, before they fell face first onto the ground, passed out due to Hades' attack that was directed at them. Meg just smirked, as she walked over to the ledge to watch Hercules and his friends impress children at the local market, flicking her hair at Hades' face as she passed him, "Looks like your game is over. Wonderboy's hitting every curve you throw at him."

Hades blinked, before noticing Meg's petite form. Of course...since Hercules had hots with the girl...maybe he could work this out.

"Oh yeah..." Hades chuckled sinisterly, approaching Meg, "I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the _right_ curves at him. Meg, my sweet."

"Don't even go there." Meg scoffed, standing up and crossed her arms, pointly trying to ignore Hades.

"See, he's gotta have a weakness, because everybody's got a weakness. I mean for what?" Hades continued, "Pandora, it was the box thing, for the Trojans, hey, they bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy's."

"I've done my part. Get your little imps-" Meg waved off, annoyed.

"They couldn't handle him as a baby." Hades countered, while the said two morons were recovering from their recent injury. "I need someone who can...handle him as a man."

"Hey, I've sworn off man-handling." Meg continued to protest, really not wanting to get involved with this.

"Well, you know, that's good, because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it?" Hades accepted as he then made two smoke figures of Meg and an indistinguishable male shape to appear. "You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you?" as the man released the smoke Meg to chase after some smoke figure of a girl. "By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg? Huh?"

"Look, I've learned my lesson, okay?" Meg argued, while trying not to burst into tears as the smoke of herself had done. This was why she hesitated around other guys since then; she didn't want to go through the same heartache of being rejected again. If she'd known her previous lover would've been such a jerk, she never would've sold her soul to Hades and be stuck serving him for the rest of eternity.

"Which is exactly why I got a feelin' you're gonna leap at my new offer." Hades said as he drew close to Meg, handing her another vase with Hercules' face on it. "You give me the key to bringing down Wonderbreath and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos!"

He then whispered at Meg's ear with a sinister smirk, "Your freedom."

Meg gasped, hearing this that made her eyes widened in disbelief. So shocked, she dropped the vase that then shattered into pieces on the ground. Hades smirked at the young woman's expression, and knew that in 24 hours...he would win at last.

* * *

Later that night, Hercules and Pegasus both returned to the Temple of Zeus to recount everything they, Zack and Mickey had been through, from Hydra to all the monsters that were fought and defeated. As they did, Hercules and Pegasus demostrated on how it happened.

"You should have been there, father!" Hercules said with a smile, "I mangled the minotaur, grappled with the gorgon...just like Phil told me...I analyzed the situation, controlled my strength...and kicked!"

Pegasus pretended to have been defeated and was pushed into the trough of water with a huge splash.

"The crowd went wild!" Hercules concluded, while mimicking the sounds of cheering, and Pegasus floated on the water while waving a flag, whistling a sound that sounded like 'Hercules!' and the young man smiled, "Thank you, thank you."

"Hah!" Zeus smiled, "You're doin' great, son! You're doin' your old man proud."

"I'm glad to hear that, father." Hercules said as Pegasus leaned close and saw from the side at least, the look of happiness on Hercules's face. "I've been waiting a long time for this day."

"Hmm...What day is that, Son?" Zeus asked.

"The day...I rejoin the gods." Hercules explained, obviously believing that Zeus was being dumb on purpose.

Uh oh...This wasn't going to go well. Zeus tried hard not to cringe, but knew that he would have to break the news to his son and despite being proud of him...there was something missing Hercules wasn't doing yet.

"You've done wonderfully." Zeus began with a sheepish smile. "You really have, my boy. You're just not there yet. You haven't proven yourself a true hero." as the smile faded into an apologetic frown.

Hercules blinked in shock and confusion, before pointing out, "But father, I've beaten every single monster I've come up against, I'm-I'm the most famous person in all of Greece-I'm-I'm an action figure!" and to prove this point, he pulled out an action figure of himself and gave it two squeezes which squeaked and thrusted out arms twice.

"I'm afraid being famous isn't the same as being a true hero." Zeus said paitently, though he felt guilty in stating this. He knew that he was starting to hurt his son's feelings, and knew that Hercules would be frustrated, but all the same, he had to tell him this.

"What more can I do?" Hercules asked. If being famous wasn't the main role of becoming a true hero, then what was? He didn't get it. Gee, even Mickey had some kind of special title due to his Keyblade, but his friend hasn't said as much yet. Zack was given some fame and credit for helping out as well, which was a start of the spiky-haired man's dream of becoming a hero in becoming a reality.

"It's something you have to discover for yourself." Zeus explained.

"But, how can I-?" Hercules began.

"Look inside your heart." Zeus concluded as he leaned back into the chair, before turning into stone once more.

"Father, wait!" Hercules cried out, but it was too late. As a few moments passed, he grunted loudly in frustration while punching the floor with his fists. Pegasus walked up to him and covered his devastated friend's shoulder with his left wing.

It looked like Hercules was back to square one.

* * *

The next day at the villia Hercules had been living in with Phil and Pegasus, with Zack owning his own villia next door, not as big, but still comfortable enough, Hercules himself was posing with the skin of a defeated lion with dark fur and black mane like a hooded cloak, holding out a club and holding a shield to his side. Zack and Mickey both stood by the side, visiting as normally, while Phil was going over Hercules' schedule, and a very skinny, not to mention very short-tempered man was painting on a vase that mimicked Hercules' pose.

"At 1, you got a meeting with King Augeas. He's got a problem with his stables. I'd advise you not to wear your new sandals." Phil stated.

"Phil?" Hercules asked, turning his head slightly.

"I told you, don't move!" The painter grunted angrily, making Hercules quickly return to his position.

Zack cringed at the harsh tone the painter gave to his friend, and muttered, "Geez, that guy needs serious attitude adjustment."

"I heard that, now be quiet!" The painter grunted again, this time to Zack who flinched along with Mickey, before turning to paint the vase.

"Not to mention super hearing too." Zack whispered softly this time, and Mickey nodded in agreement.

"I'll say." Mickey whispered in return. "Then again, I've seen worse. Ha, ya'know, I used to be quite terrified of giants until eleven years ago."

"Guys..." Hercules muttered again.

"At 3, you gotta get a girdle from some Amazons." Phil continued to Hercules.

Finally breaking his pose and reaching his breaking point, Hercules shouted in frustration, "Guys, what's the point?" throwing the club and shield down.

Unfortunately, the two items hit the vase which made the painter mess up with the painting. That did it. His work was ruined and he finally couldn't handle being around these morons any longer. Shrieking in frustration while purposely ruining the painting into a black ball of mess, the painter shouted, "That's IT!"

"Hey, sorry!" Zack backed away as the artist stormed past him and Mickey.

"Um, 'scuse me, sir?" Mickey tried to reason, but the painter simply ignored him. What a rude man, he thought.

"Keep your toga on, pal." Phil grunted in annoyance, only for the man to dump his palette on Phil's head, storming out while the goat-man had paint smeered all over him, making him look like a clown.

Noticing how his friend looked down, Zack couldn't help but ask Hercules, "What do ya' mean _'What's the point'_? Don't you wanna go to Olympus?"

"Yeah, but this stuff doesn't seem to be getting me anywhere." Hercules groaned as he sat on the stool and pulled the lion skin's off his head.

"But...ah...but you can't give now, Hercules." Mickey pointed out, "Everybody's countin' on ya'." with Zack nodding in agreement while Phil used the lion's skin to wipe the paint off his face.

"I gave this everything I had." Hercules said, dejectedly. He was stuck. One minute he believed he was going to go back to where he belonged, and all he got for it was a statement that he needed to do more. How can he do that? Look inside his heart? What did that actually mean?

The others saw that Hercules suddenly felt defeated, as though his fame wasn't even enough to keep him going. It then made sense on what the poor young man was feeling. Mickey could sense that his friend had been told something that had made him feel lost and starting to drown in despair. He knew that all too well, as King Mickey himself had gone through similiar feelings of utter hopelessness in his previous important adventures; The heavy weight of rescuing Retro-Mickey in a few moments he came close in giving up such as facing his worst fears in the Land of Giants, being captured briefly in Castle of illusions, using the magical paint-brush to get into the Wasteland; The heavy weight of saving Zelda while confronting the Dark Prince and the Dahaka; the fear of being unable to conjour darkness that did not exist in his heart, and still to this day after seven years, the guilt of failing to save friends.

But no, Mickey knew that Hercules hasn't come to that yet, and the King didn't want his friend to feel that heavy weight or pain he himself had gone through for eleven years, even before he could even wield his Keyblade.

So Mickey, Zack and Phil approached their dejected friend, as Phil began, assuringly, "Listen to me, kid. I seen 'em all. And I am tellin' you-and this is the honest-to-Zeus truth-you got somethin' I never seen before."

"Really?" Hercules asked.

"Yeah, Herc'." Zack said in agreement with a smile, taking a seat to Hercules' left, patting him on the back, "You're one of a kind, man."

"Everybody's got faith in you." Mickey added with a warm smile, "And I know that you've got strength not just in your muscles, but also in your heart, too. Gosh, everybody has ups and downs in everythin', so it's nothin' to worry about."

"They're right." Phil said in agreement as he hopped onto the stoll, patting Hercules on the shoulder, "There is nothing you can't do, kid."

It did make Hercules feel a bit better. While he was stuck in the loop, at least he had his friends' supports. Just then, at that moment, a large group of girls of all sizes barged in, squeeling before they all pounced onto Hercules and forcing Zack, Mickey and Phil to stumble back despite their protests.

"It's him!" One fangirl screamed hysterically.

"I touched his elbow!" Another squealed madly.

"I GOT HIS SWEAT BAND!" Another shouted, before they continued to engulf Hercules with their fangirl madness.

"This isn't the kind of fame I had in mind either." Zack mumured, nervously. At least the girls were going all crazy at Hercules and not him. But still...one, he felt sorry for his friend, and two, this was just _plain_ scary.

"I think the best way to try not get mobbed is, well, keep yourself busy in a place where fans can't reach you." Mickey shrugged, just as creeped out as the young black-haired man was.

"Easier said than done." Zack pointed out, before he and Mickey cringed in sympathy as Hercules was being shoved right onto the floor and trampled him. That oughta hurt.

They and Phil then bend down to Hercules who only managed to get his head out but was almost kissing the floor, as the 18 year old squeaked, "Guys... _help!_ "

"Okay!" Phil whispered, "Escape plan Beta."

"Gotcha!" Hercules, Mickey and Zack all whispered and soon the boys quickly got into position.

As Mickey whistled while he, Zack and Phil stood by the doorway, the fangirls looked up and quickly realised that Hercules had suddenly disappeared, one of the girls asking, "Hey, where is he?"

"Right this way!" Zack called out, quickly running out through the door towards the veranda. Hopefully he can lose them after hiding somewhere where the fangirls would then hopelessly run all over town just to find Hercules.

"You heard him! To the veranda!" Phil called out, as all the girls rushed off, following Zack as they started to go crazy on him. Phil in the meantime snickered while going after them. This was his day!

Mickey then muttered, "Now to save Zack!" and then zipped off out of the door, leaving behind a trail of dust. This was going to be a long afternoon.

The door then closed the moment Mickey made his exit, and Meg stood there, having pushed it closed and smirked, having seen everything. Well, that took care of the mob. She then looked around the living room. It looked like a pharaoh's palace with all the decorations and furnishings. Meg then looked behind a curtain to see Hercules' sandles sticking out.

"Let's see...what could be behind curtain number one?" Meg said mischievously as she pulled a rope, and the curtain parted to reveal a gasping Hercules.

"Meg!" He said in surprise.

"It's alright." Meg smiled. "The sea of raging hormones has ebbed."

Hercules then quickly wiped the kiss mark left by one of the crazy 'hormones' as Meg called him from his cheek, before saying, "Gee, i-i-it's great to see you. I-I-I missed you." with a smile.

"So, this is what heroes do on their days off?" Meg asked as she flopped onto a couch close to a table that had some of the merchandise and toys of not just Hercules, but also of Pegasus, Zack, Mickey and Phil.

"Ah, I'm no hero." Hercules said with a modest laugh.

"Sure you are." Meg said, as she made herself comfortable, "Everybody in Greece thinks you're the greatest thing since they put the pocket in pita."

Hercules bend down to put his sweatband back on while he chuckled, "I know. It's-it's crazy you know, I can't go anywhere without being mobbed, I mean—"

"You sound like you could use a day off." Meg thought as she fiddled with a figurine of Phil, "Think your nanny goat would go-" she paused while giving it a squeeze that made it's eyes and tongue bulge out once, before she continued, "-Berserk if you played hooky this afternoon?"

Hercules hesitated. "Oh gee. I-I don't know, uh, Phil's got the rest of the day pretty much booked."

"Ah, Phil-schmill." Meg said with a smile, tossing the figuring to the table before standing up, and continued, "Just follow me. Out the window, round the dumbbells, you lift up the back wall and we're gone."

* * *

Later that night, after spending the entire afternoon with Hercules, he and Meg returned home and were laughing at their slight-misadventures they had. They arrived at the backyard.

"Wow, what a day." Hercules said with a laugh. "First that restaurant by the bay, and then that play, that...Oedipus thing? Man! And I thought I had problems."

Meg chuckled weakly, though she had to admit, Hercules was right about the Oedipus thing. Her gaze then turned to a birdbath next to her when she heard a 'psst!' and to her slight annoyance, the two little birds that were glaring at her were actually Pain and Panic in disguise, the two devils turning their heads to normal.

"Stop foolin' around!" Panic whispered angrily.

"Yeah, get your goods, sister!" Pain whispered as well, before they turned their heads back into that of birds, whistling innocently, while Meg turned her attention back to Hercules the moment he turned back to her.

"I didn't know playing hooky could be so much fun." Hercules said with a kind smile.

"Yeah. Neither did I." Meg replied as she smiled back, while the birds flew off. She hadn't expected to actually like any of the stuff they did. She just wanted to get Sora comfortable enough to figure out what his Achilles heel was. Still...it had been heaps of fun.

"Thanks, Meg." Hercules muttered with a wide smile.

"Don't that me just yet." Meg muttered, more to herself than to Hercules. She then gasped and fell into his arms.

"Oops, careful." Hercules quickly caught her.

"Sorry. Weak ankles." Meg mumured.

"Oh yeah? Well maybe you'd better sit down." Hercules suggested as he carried her to a bench and sat her down on it, while taking a seat next to her himself.

Meg saw this as her chance to begin speaking out to see what Hercules' weakness was, before asking, "So...uh...do you have any problems with things like this?" before putting her leg right in front of Sora's face as his eyes widened as far as they'd go, before she added, "Weak ankles, I mean?"

"Oh, uh..." Hercules began, gently putting Meg's leg back down, "No, not really."

By then, Meg crept closer to him, continuing, "No weaknesses whatsoever? No trick knee? Ruptured...disks?"

Hercules gulped, "No. I'm...I'm afraid I'm uh...fit as a fiddle." standing up to go over a fountain. His face felt really warm and he couldn't sworn he heard pounding in his ears.

"Wonderboy, you are perfect." Meg sighed, stumped. There goes her chance in getting free from Hades' clutches.

"Thanks." Hercules said as he picked up a pebble and tossed it into the pond, accidentally breaking the arms off of a brand new statue. "Whoops!" he winched.

Meg muffled her giggle behind her hand, before joining him and admitted as the two gazed at the now armless statue, "It looks better that way. No, it...really does."

Hercules and Meg stared at each other and didn't stop until a shooting star passed by. It wasn't until Hercules finally spoke up, "You know, when I was a kid, I...I would have given anything to be exactly like everybody else."

"You wanted to be petty and dishonest?" Meg asked, thinking about her old boyfriend.

"Everybody's not like that." Hercules said simply.

"Yes they are." Meg said sadly, forcing back tears. She was just as bad as the jerk that dumped her. Here she was trying to find a way for Hades to kill a good, heroic person and for the first time in few months, guilt hanged heavily in her heart.

"You're not like that." Hercules pointed out kindly.

Meg turned to him in slight shock, "How do you know what I'm like?"

"All I know is...you're the most amazing person with...weak ankles I've ever met." Hercules replied with a simple smile.

Meg laughed awkwardly and takes a step backwards before she is pricked on her back by the arrow of a small statue of Cupid. She gazed at it, surprised as she hadn't even noticed, while Hercules gently took her hand.

"Meg...when I'm with you, I-I don't feel so...alone." Hercules continued.

"Sometimes it's better to be alone." Meg said sadly, taking a seat by the edge of the pond of another statue.

"What do you mean?"

"Nobody can hurt you."

Hercules didn't understand why Meg looked...so sad. He then took a seat next to her, and told her as he held her hands, "Meg? I would never, ever hurt you."

"And I don't wanna hurt you, so...let's both do ourselves a favour and...stop this...um...before...we..."

They were both slowly closing their eyes and came this close to kissing when the two of them then heard leaves rustling from a tree near them, along with familiar hushed voices that were whispering loud enough for the two to hear them. Before Hercules and Meg knew it, all of the sudden both Zack and Mickey fell out of the tree screaming as the branch they were standing on broke and the two crash landed onto the ground.

As the two boys slowly pushed themselves up, they were met with surprised gazes of Hercules and Meg. Quickly, both Zack and Mickey pointed at each other while making up the excuse to Hercules and Meg, "It was his idea!"

"Uh..." Hercules mumured, not sure what to say. How long had Zack and Mickey been hiding or spying on him in that tree?

"Okay, before you say anything..." Zack began as he and Mickey stood up, holding their hands up in surrender, "Yes, we were kind of spying on you and no we didn't hear much. Most of the time we were...uh..."

"We were hidin' from those crazy fangirls. And um..." Mickey began, awkwardly.

He was about to continue when all of the sudden a bright light shined onto all four of them as they were forced to shut their eyes and use their hands to shield them to avoid in getting blind. Mickey, Zack, Hercules and Meg all looked up to see that the light was coming from a lamp on top of Pegasus' head while the said horse had his wings whirl around like a helicopter. Phil was on top of Pegasus's head with a megaphone and he wasn't happy. Neither was Pegasus.

"Alright! Break it up! Break it up!" Phil called out, "Party's over! I been lookin' all over this town!"

"Calm down, mutton man! It was all my fault." Meg said agitatedly.

"You're already on my list, sister-so don't make it worse!" Phil said angrily before he hopped off Pegasus.

The said horse snorted angrily at Meg who in response blew out the light, much to his confusion.

"And as for you three bums!" Phil began as he glared at Hercules, Zack and Mickey, the latter two shrinking back a little in fright while Phil grabbed hold of Hercules's shirt, dragging him along as he continued, "You're gonna go to the stadium and you're gonna be put through the workout of your lives! Now get on the horse!"

"Sorry." Mickey shrugged sheepishly.

"Okay, okay." Zack said in defeat, "No need to get threateny. Message rechieved."

"It won't happen again." Mickey concluded.

"I'm sorry." Meg said sheepishly to Hercules.

"Ah, he'll get over it." Hercules replied calmly, picking a flower off from a tree and gave to her and then gave her a gentle kiss on the cheek as a goodbye for now.

Meg felt herself blush.

"Move! Move, move, move, move, move, move! Move!" Phil grunted.

Zack and Mickey both hurriedly got onto Pegasus, while Hercules walked backwards as he got onto Pegasus, but couldn't get his eyes off Meg. He had a stupid dreamstate like goofy smile on his face. He just kissed Meg...that was one of the best things he ever did in his life. Now he knew that he was deeply in love with her.

As Phil got on, he grunted as Pegasus took off while Hercules and Meg waved each other a goodbye. As the five of them flew off, Pegasus was flying under tree branches, which Phil had to duck twice as he was standing on top of the goofy-dazed Hercules.

"Hey, watch it! Watch it! Whoo! Watch it!" Phil grunted, forcefully turning Hercules' head forward ahead of them, "Keep your goo-goo eyes on the-"

"Incoming!" Zack quickly cried out as he and Mickey had seen what was going on and quickly saw another branch that was about to hit Phil.

Too late, Phil got hit on the head without looking for the fourth time and was flung away before he banged his head onto a rock before falling into the bushes. He then raised his arm from behind the rock, and said in a dazed voice, "That's it. Next time, I drive." before passing out.

* * *

Meg was gazing at the flower Hercules had given her, admiring it while thinking about the kiss he gave her before he left, before she grimiced in realization. She then half-groaned, "Oh...what's the matter with me? You'd think a girl would learn."

She then got up and turned Cupid's arrow away from her and into the opposite direction.

" _~If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that~_ "

Meg then passed five statues of what she didn't realise were the Muses, and she was thinking to herself, she was unaware that they'd come to life.

" _~No man is worth the aggravation, That's ancient history - been there, done that!~_ "

Apparently five voices in her head began to argue with her, not knowing that it was the Muses trying to encourage her to face the facts. As Meg tossed the flower away, Thalia caught it.

 _"~Who d'ya think you're kidding? He's the Earth and Heaven to ya, Try to keep it hidden. Honey, we can see right through ya-(Oh no)Girl, you can't conceal it, We know how you feel, And who you're thinkin' of~"_

Thalia tried to get Meg's attention by waving the flower in front of her face, but Meg just got up and began to walk away, which made the shorter Muse puff out agitated air comically. She's not having much like with everything, is she?

" _~Oh-no...no chance, no way, I won't say it, no, no~_ "

Meg shook her head, she wasn't going to fall into the same trap of heart-ache all over again.

 _"~You swoon, you sigh, why deny it, uh-oh?~"_

The voices in her head weren't giving up, were they?

" _~It's too cliche, I won't say I'm in love~_ "

The Muses shrugged. This was tricker than they thought. Well, guess they'd have to keep trying in many disguises.

 _"~Shoo-doo, shoo-doo, oo-oo-oo~"_

Meg went through the garden and at first smiled at a couple of statues, before bonking herself on the head. What was she thinking? As far as she's concerned, every romance always ended badly and in tragedy, no matter how good they begin.

" _~I thought my heart had learned its lesson, It feels so good when you start out...~_ "

The Muses this time took position of being pillars of small temple statue, and nearly blew their cover when Meg turned to gaze at them, but managed to prevent themselves from seeing them, and as she turned away, they started up again, and in her mind, the five voices were beginning to give her a headache.

" _~My head is screamin' get a grip, girl,_ _Unless you're dyin' to cry your heart out_ _, oh...~_ "

As Meg walked off again, the Muses held up the roof of the Temple, though Thalia, being the shortest, cried out in alarm as she was now dangling in the air while hanging onto the temple. They then continued to take position in other statues all around the garden, and Meg continued to gaze at the statues of loving couples.

 _"~You keep on denyin', Who you are and how you're feelin', Baby, we're not buyin', Hon, we saw you hit the ceilin', Face it like a grown-up, When you gonna own up that you, Got - got - got it bad?~"_

Meg shook her head, before walking through a pond on several stepping stones, trying to get out of that place, so she could just relax and get all these stupid ideas out of her head.

" _~Oh-no...no chance, no way, I won't say it, no, no~_ "

She then accidentally stepped on a turtle and nearly fell in before she caught herself on the hand of a statue of Sora as she smiled and got close to it.

 _"Give up, but give in Check the grin, you're in love~"_

Meg's eyes widened in realization and then blocked her ears with her hands, shutting her eyes tightly as she began to make her way back to the original spot.

" _~This scene won't play, I won't say I'm in love~_ "

Still, the Muses continued to convince her.

 _"~You're doin' flips, Read our lips-you're in love, Shoo-doo, shoo-doo~"_

Meg then sat back down on the edge of the pond, and slumped.

" _~You're way off base, I won't say it~("~She won't say in love~") Get off my case, I won't say it~_ "

The Muses in a tiny picture statue at the side of the edge then lifted the flower onto the ledge, which allowed Meg to unexpectedly touch it as she leaned back.

 _"~Girl, don't be proud, It's okay you're in love~"_

Meg gazed at the flower and then...she finally admitted defeat. She smiled lovingly. Whoever the voices in her head were...they won, and they were right, and she didn't mind.

" _~Oh...at least out loud, I won't say I'm in...love.~_ "

She layed down on the ledge and held the flower close to her heart, thinking dreamingly about Hercules. Meg finally accepted the fact that she was deeply in love of him.

 _"~Shoo-doo, shoo-doo, shoo-shoo, shoo-doo, sha-la-la-la-la-la...Aaahh.~"_

As Meg layed there, she then smelled melting marble and turned to see a statue of a couple dancing split open at the center as Hades appeared in the middle. Way to ruin the moment!

"Hey...what's the buzz, huh, Meg?" Hades asked as he sat on the ruined statue as if it was a throne. "What is the weak link in Wonderboy's chain?"

"Get yourself another girl! Because I'm through." Meg told him angrily. She didn't care what Hades said. She wasn't going to hurt Hercules and never will.

"I'm sorry. Do you mind runnin' that by me again?" Hades asked, half-sarcastically, "I must have had a chunk of brimstone wedged in my ear or somethin'..."

"Then read my lips!" Meg yelled, "Forget it!"

As she then began to storm off, Hades suddenly appeared in front of her as he pointed out the one thing she forgot, "Meg, Meg, Meg, my sweet, deluded little minion. Aren't we forgetting one teensy-weensy but ever so crucial little, tiny detail? I OWN YOU!" he shouted as turned red and orange that his hair almost covered his body.

Unaware of both of them, Phil finally covered as he groaned, pushing the bump on his head back in, cringing as it hurt, "Oh...I got another horn here..." before grumbling about Hercules, "That kid's gonna be doin' laps for a month!"

Before he could continue, Phil suddenly heard Meg's voice, along with another unfamiliar one, apparently meaning that she wasn't alone. When he peaked around the corner of the hedge, with Meg, was a tall blue skinned man with blue fire for hair, and his eyes widened. Given Zack's description about a guy named Hades seven years ago, Phil felt horror. That guy was Hades...and even worse...

"If I say, _"sing"_ , you say, _"hey, name that tune"_. If I say I want Wonderboy's head on a platter, you say-" Hades began.

"Medium or well done." Meg said auto-mactically, though this time it was sarcasm.

Phil turned away and groaned in horrified realization. He knew that dame was trouble. Thinking about Hercules...Phil realised that this was going to break the poor kid's heart. So, without fully realising that Meg was actually feeling guilty for her actions, he immediately ran off to break the news, not staying long enough to actually realise that Meg was in love with Hercules and had no intentions of hurting him.

"I'm sorry...you hear that sound?" Hades asked, "That's the sound on your freedom fluttering out the window...forever."

"I don't care! I'm not gonna help you hurt him, or Zack or Mickey." Meg said stubbornly. She'd rather have Hades kill her than hurt Hercules and his friends...especially Hercules, the man whom she had fallen in love with.

Hades shook his head in disbelief. Since when did Meg actually get to be like this? "I can't believe you're getting so worked up about some...guy."

"This one is different." Meg retailated, "He's honest, and-and he's sweet-"

"Please..." Hades groaned while rolling his eyes in disgust, almost ready to vomit.

"He would never do anything to hurt me..." Meg continued.

"He's a guy!" Hades groaned again. But then suddenly he realized something...Meg was in love with Hercules...Hercules was in love with Meg...he would never do anything to hurt Meg, and she wouldn't do anything to hurt him...that's it!

Oblivious to this, Meg continued as she pointed out after remembering what Hercules told her earlier, "Besides, oh Oneness, you can't beat him. He has no weaknesses. He's gonna—"

But as Meg turned to face him again, Hades was smiling evilly. He finally figured it out. "I think he does, Meg. I truly think...he does." He took the flower from Meg and in an instant, it was burnt.

Meg then came to a horrified realization, which was something she would come to regret.

She was Hercules' weakness.

* * *

Phil had made it to the stadium, and sighed in sadness as he saw Hercules training by running through several obstacles. Zack was squating again, and Mickey was beating up barrels on a time-limit. The satyr knew he had to break the news to Hercules, but didn't know how. He would also have to tell the others too...but maybe it was best if he told Hercules first in private. As he passed Pegasus, who was eating bird seeds along with birds, Phil patted the horse gently as he somberly walked over.

"Hey, Phil." Zack greeted, as he squated as he did. "Where've you been?"

"Zack, could you and Mickey give us some time alone?" Phil requested.

"Huh?" Zack blinked, suddenly concerned as he stopped his squats. "Why?"

"I'll explain later."

"Okay..."

Something was wrong, Zack could see it in Phil's eyes. This was obviously some kind of bad news he had to give to Hercules. Despite wanting to know what was going on, he sighed before nodding and called up to Mickey who, as he approached, also sensed that something was wrong.

"Hey, what's goin' on?" Mickey asked, worriedly.

"Phil wanted to talk to Herc' in private. Not sure what it is, though." Zack shrugged, clueless.

Even though Mickey wanted to know further, he shrugged before joining Zack into the halls at one of the doors of the stadium, leaving Phil and Hercules on their own with Pegasus who was still eating the birdseeds.

"Hey, Phil." Hercules greeted, still training as he asked, "What happened to you?"

"Kid," Phil began, somberly, "We gotta talk." before being picked up by Hercules who was still crazy about earlier this afternoon and evening.

"Oh, Phil. I just had the greatest day of my life!" Hercules said happily, tossing Phil to the side while the satyr was spun around halfway into the ground, while the young man climbed up onto the handrail and layed on it, "I-I can't stop thinking about Meg. *Sigh* She's somethin' else."

"Kid! I'm tryin' to talk to ya! Will you come down here and listen?" Phil called up as he stood up.

"Aw, how can I come down there when I'm feeling so UP?" Hercules asked as he literally leapt into the sky into the clouds and didn't come down for several minutes.

Pegasus watched Hercules happily while still munching on the birdseeds. He had to admit, despite not having liked Meg, she made Hercules happy, and that's what mattered. Though he did feel a little jealous. He had a feeling that Zack would soon find the love of his life soon, and that Mickey had mentioned about having the best gal' of his life named Minnie a few times.

Suddenly, he heard a whistle and saw a female Pegasus standing there and winking coyly at him. Pegasus squeaked weakly, immediately swallowing the birdseeds. When the female Pegasus revealed herself, coloured in pink, his mouth and tongue gapped in shock. She has to be the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. As she then walked into the shack, Pegasus, having fallen in love at first sight, followed. But unfortunately, it was all a trap because to his horror, the female Pegasus split in half, before the two halves turned into that of Pain and Panic.

The two then leaped at the horrified Pegasus as Pain sneered, "Gotcha!"

* * *

As Zack and Mickey waited in the lobby for Phil, the longer the conversation between him and Hercules took, the more the two began to worry. Mickey had been pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back. It didn't help that he felt familiar darkness that's been around lingering quite numberous times during his visits here in this world, and it wasn't just because of the monsters either.

"Phil sure seemed worried about something if it concerned Hercules." Zack commented as he leaned against the wall with his arms folded to his chest. He wished the two would just hurry up. In retrospect, waiting for a long time, even for ten minutes, or even five was never his forte.

"I'm really worried. They're taking too long." Mickey said, having trouble in calming down. Something bad was about to happen. He could feel it. "What d'ya suppose it could be?"

Zack sighed, just as troubled as his friend. "I don't know, Mick'. I wish I knew."

The two of them then groaned in agitation and worry. After a few moments of silence, Zack then asked the question that's been bugging him all ready, "So, um...what do you think that got Herc' upset this mornin'?"

"Aw gee, I wish I knew about that one." Mickey sighed as he stopped pacing and let his arms fall limp at his sides, before placing his hands on his heaps as he tried to think of something that caused Hercules to have doubted himself. "My guess is that somethin' happened at the Temple of Zeus that he went to the other day. I can't explain why..."

"You know, now that ya' mention it..." Zack suddenly spoke up, as a thought came into his mind. "He sure seemed to be in a better mood when he was with Meg almost last night."

Mickey paused as a sudden realization hit him hard like a ton of bricks. Despite that Hercules had been keen in going back to his origins, from what he and Zack had seen at the garden earlier...Hercules was madly in love with Meg, and that, the King realised, was going to cause some problems.

"Uh, Zack?" Mickey began hesitatedly as he turned to gaze at his friend. "Y-Ya' do realise that Hercules will hav'ta make a choice."

"What?" Zack asked, before demanding, "Wait, what does that mean?"

"It means that Hercules would have to choose to either go back to Olympus to be with his family, or stay here in Greece to be with Meg. I mean, he can't have both since Meg wasn't born a Goddess." Mickey explained.

Zack softly gasped in realization. Mickey was right. Hercules would have to choose to leave either one he cared about so much behind. He couldn't have both because Zeus can't live in the mortal world, and Meg can't live up on Mount Olympus either. How would Zeus take it if Hercules decided to stay here with Meg? Or worse, if Hercules did decide to go back, it would only break Meg's heart. Despite that, given the former option and that Zack would promise to take care of her, he would feel guilty if he had her fall in love with him and that would put a major strain on his friendship with Hercules.

But before either of them could say anything else, all of the sudden Zack and Mickey found themselves being chained by smoke and suddenly thrusted onto the wall, pinned and unable to escape, and much to their dismay, a familiar enemy whom they haven't seen in a while appeared before them, grinning evilly.

"I'm sorry, did I interrupt somethin'?" Hades sneered wickedly.

"Hades!" Zack hissed angrily, grunting as he strugged to try and free himself. Why did this stupid guy have to appear _now_ of all times?

"Why you no good Hades-!" Mickey growled angrily, recongising the evil God of the Dead. He should've known that Hades had been the one to have sent all of those monsters Hercules had fought, including Hydra.

"You're too kind, mouse." Hades waved casually.

"What do you want this time?" Zack demanded.

The Lord of the Dead shrugged, saying as though it was a nice Tuesday morning, "Well, lesse...Get rid of you and Wonderboy, take over the Cosmos, and quit that gig at the Underworld. Does that clear up, Mosquito?"

"Are you insane!?" Zack cried out, angrily while shocked at the same time.

Mickey glared hard at Hades, stating what he thought was the obvious, "Hercules would never be beaten by you! He stopped all those monsters and he'll stop you!"

"See, it would've been that simple for him, which it has for the last few months, with the help of you two guys." Hades began, approaching Mickey and was right up the King's face, grabbing Mickey's cheek and nudged it as though the mouse was a baby, "Except this time, I've got the advantage to take him down." The god whispered sinisterly while Mickey moaned before fulling his face free from Hades' grip.

"Like what?" Zack asked, suspiciously. "What'd he ever do to you?"

"Are you really that stupid, kid?" Hades asked, rolling his eyes. "Didn't it occure to you on who made that guy mortal in the first place? See, as long as he's around, I can't get to Olympus to get rid of Zeus."

Everything just stopped at this. Horror and realization dawned onto Zack and Mickey. It made perfect sense. 18 years of plotting, and while the two of them didn't know how he did it, Hades had plotted to take over Mount Olympus and the only obstacle was Hercules.

"...It was you...!" Zack hissed angrily. "You made Herc' mortal when he was just a baby."

"'Bout time you got that cleared up." Hades sneered evilly, "Well, I'd love to stay and chat to you both, but I've got a bargain to make with Wonderbreath, and if you guys do manage to escape...you're gonna love to see him fall apart." before disappearing into smoke.

"Come back here!" Mickey yelled, as he and Zack both renewed their attempts to try and break free, in their desperate attempt to warn Hercules and Phil before it was too late. It seemed like forever, but after several minutes that seemed like half an hour, they finally broke free and collasped onto the ground, panting.

"Well, c'mon!" Mickey hurriedly said to Zack. "We've gotta go save Herc!" already running back towards the stadium.

"Right behind ya'!" Zack cried out as he hurried to catch up to his friend.

* * *

As Zack and Mickey were stuck with problems in the Lobby, Hercules and Phil had gotten into an argument about Meg, with Hercules not believing that she was a threat. Phil, in response, finally gave up as he knew he was stupid to have come to believe in his dream again. Sombered, he declared he was taking the first boat back home, muttering that he hoped to have trained an all time Champ, not an all time Chump.

Hercules had heard what Phil had said and felt guilty for having yelled at him like that. However, suddenly the fire torches went out and he heard an odd noise above him. He turned to see a blue-skinned man with blue fire for hair and wearing a black smoky robe. Where'd this guy come from?

"Geez, Louise! What got his goat, huh?" Hades muttered, lying on the bar casually. He then swung down and stood in front of Hercules, being two inches taller, before introducing himself to him for the very first time, "Baboom. Name is Hades, Lord of the Dead. Hi, how ya doin'?"

"Not now, okay?" Hercules sighed as he turned away, but Hades then appeared in front of him again, this time walking on his hands on the handrail.

"Hey, hey, I only need a few seconds, and I'm a fast talker, right?" Hades began with a smirk, "See, I've got this major deal in the works...a real estate venture, if you will. And Herc-you little devil, you, may I call you Herc? You seem to be constantly getting in the way of it, huh?"

"You've got the wrong guy." Hercules said, as he attempted to walk away again, not in the mood, only for Hades to grab him by the shirt.

"Hear me out, ya little-!" Hades said angrily, as his hair turned orange before he regained his composture and said again, calmly this time, "Just-hear me out, okay? So I would be...eternally grateful if you would just...take a day off from this hero business of yours. Geez, I mean monsters, natural disasters. Phew. You wait a day, okay?"

"You're out of your mind." Hercules shook his head. While it was true that he wasn't a true hero by his father's standards, he wasn't going to abandon the people of Greece, and he definintely didn't want to let them down.

Hades knew this was coming, and he was fully prepared. "Not so fast, because, ya see...I do have a little leverage you might wanna know about."

With a snap of his fingers, Meg suddenly appeared in the stadium, much to Hercules' shock.

"Meg!" He cried out.

"Don't listen, Herc-" Meg began, only to be cut off as Hades chained and gagged her with smoke, then made her disappear before Hercules could reach her.

Hercules glared at Hades before rushing towards him, demanding, "Let her go!" only to go through him as the tall man was immortal.

"Here's the trade-off." Hades said, fully in control of the situation. He waited for this for a long time. "You give your strength for about 24 hours, okay? Say the next 24 hours and Meg here is free as a bird and safe from harm. We dance, we kiss, we schmooze, we carry on, we go home happy. What d'ya say? C'mon." while making Meg appear again at the audience seats, still tied up and gagged, thus, unable to warn Hercules.

Hercules hesitated as he gazed at Meg. He couldn't let anything happen to her, and began to wane his resolve. "People are...are gonna get hurt, aren't they?"

"Nah!" Hades said, before admitting, "I mean, you know, it's a possibility. It happens 'cause, y'know, it's war-but what can I tell ya? Anyway, what do you owe these people, huh? Isn't Meg - little smoochy face-isn't she more important than they are?" as he then appeared by Meg's side and held her face with one hand.

"Stop it!" Hercules yelled.

"Isn't she?" Hades persisted.

Despite the guilt of letting people down, Hercules couldn't let Meg get hurt. "You've gotta swear she'll be safe from any harm."

"Fine, okay, I'll give ya that one." Hades said as he approached Hercules again, "Meg is safe, otherwise you get your strength right back, yadda-yadda, fine print, boiler plate, baboom. Okay? We're done. What d'ya say we shake on it?"

Hades extended his hand for a shake, but Hercules was skeptical and hesitated to take it. Something didn't seem quite right. He had no idea what it was.

"Hey, I really don't have, like, _time_ to bat this around." Hades said, starting to lose patience. "I'm kind of on a schedule here, I got plans for August, okay? I need an answer, like, now. Going once, going twice..."

Hercules looked at Meg and despite her head shaking in a muffled protest, he knew he couldn't let her get hurt by this manic. Finally he made his decision and declared, "Alright!"

"Yes, we're there!" Hades declared with a sneer and took Hercules' hand...just as Mickey and Zack arrived as the two saw the light. Their eyes widened in horror as Hercules' strength was quickly drained from him, leaving him feeling very weak and buckled under Hades' quickly strengthened grip.

"Herc, no!" Mickey cried out, horrified. He and Zack both immediately rushed over to their their weakened friend who was having trouble standing up on his own. It quickly occured to them that Hercules just made a deal with Hades who had now taken his strength away, and by seeing Meg tied up and gagged...the deal was for her safety.

Still, Zack glared up at Hades and yelled angrily, "What the hell did you do, Hades!?"

"Oh, just made a deal with him, Mosquito-boy." Hades shrugged, "He might feel a little queasy, it's kinda natural. So maybe he should...SIT DOWN!" using his powers to leviatate the dumbbell before sending it towards the trio who were hit and shoved to the ground. Zack and Mickey both skid to the ground just a few feet from Hercules who was now trapped underneath the dumbbell.

Hades approached the struggling Hercules, and sneered, "Now you know how it feels be just like everybody else. Isn't it just...peachy? Oh! You'll love this-one more thing."

He then approached Meg, and told her while snapping his fingers to release her from the smoke chains and gag, "Meg...babe. A deal's a deal. You're off the hook." before saying to Hercules who, along with Zack and Mickey, stood up weakly. "By the way, Herc'. Is she not, like, a fabulous little actress?"

"Stop it." Meg begged in a guilty tone.

"Whadd'ya mean?" Mickey asked, hesitatedly. Suddenly another horrible realization dawned to him and then to Zack, because given Meg's look of absolute guilt...no...it couldn't be.

"I mean, mouse, Wonderboy's little chickie-poo here was working for me all the time. Duh." Hades said, his grin widening.

Hercules, Zack and Mickey were shocked and horrified to hear this. Meg had been working with Hades all this time?

"That's not true!" Zack protested, but by Meg's look of guilt...he knew, with horror, that it was indeed true. To make the point more clear, the two children that Hercules saved appeared, and to the trio's horror, they turned into Pain and Panic who laughed menacelly. It had been a trick all this time.

Hercules was unable to bear it, utterly devasated and heart-broken, and not even listening to Meg, or anyone else, too far in despair. Phil had been right, and even worse, now he just doomed Greece and the entire Cosmos to Hades, and it was all his fault.

"Couldn't have done it with you, sugar, sweetheart, babe." Hades grinned at Meg.

"No!" Meg pleaded as she rushed over to Hercules, "It's not like that! I didn't mean to-I-I couldn't..." and when he just walked way from her, all she could do was a whisper a heart-broken, "I'm so sorry..."

Mickey's fists shook in anger, but at the same time, utter hopelessness. He was angry with Meg, but he knew that, given her guilt, she had tried to stop this from happening, but Hades had the full advantage. No, he realised. If anyone was to blame for the entire mess...it was Hades. He had made Hercules mortal 18 years ago. He had forced Meg to become his slave and use her against them.

"Our hero's a zero! Our hero's a zero!" Pain and Panic chanted, laughing as they hovered around a sombered Hercules.

"Hades, how dare you!?" Mickey screamed, unconsciously letting loose tears of devastation, anger and frustration.

"You'll pay for this, Hades...!" Zack hissed angrily, trying to control his anger, as his fists shook as well.

Meg could only watch, beginning to cry. It was all her fault. She didn't want this to happen. But now it did. Hercules was weakened, hurt, and...and betrayed, and it was all her fault! Her heart ached so badly in sorrow, heart-break and guilt.

"Well, gotta blaze." Hades said evilly and ignoring both Mickey and Zack, as he materialized a chariot and a black dragon to fly him to his next destination, "Sorry, mouse and mosquito, but you both should've known how to make friends. Anyway, There's a whole cosmos up there waiting for me with, hey, my name on it."

No one said anything else. Hercules just gazed at the ground in devastation, Mickey lowered his head in guilt, silently crying, Zack angrily punched the side of the way in frustration and guilt, and Meg collasped onto her knees, burying her face into her hands and sobbed. And Hades loved every single moment of it.

He did it! He finally won!

Hades then boarded his chariot along with Pain and Panic, and concluded as they flew away, "So much for the preliminaries, and now onto the main event!"

Now was the time to begin what he'd been waiting for, for the past 18 years.

* * *

 **A/N: I made some changes with the stadium part as you noticed. But none the less, I think it'll be only two more chapters to go, because the last one will be a secret ending. See you in the next chapter!**


	6. CHAPTER 6: Marks of a True Hero

**Author's Note: Today's officially the 20th Anniversary since Disney's Hercules has been released in theatres! Happy Birthday, Hercules!...Too bad I won't be able to finish this story today, but oh well.**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own the songs...yes, this is my first somewhat musical fanfic.**

* * *

 **CHAPTER 6: Marks of a True Hero.**

The wordly alignment was in perfect straight line. The time had come. With great energy from the worlds that lined up hat shot down into the world of Olympus Coliseum and into the ocean, opening up a whirlpool-like gateway that revealled the bottom of the sea, the moment Hades arrived on his chariot. Hovering just near the edge of it, he grinned evilly and excitedly as deep inside, was the prison of lightning, and deep inside, whom he was looking for.

"BROTHERS!" Hades called grandly. "Titans! Look at you in your squalid prison!"

Pain and Panic, who also saw this, were terrified of the giant monsters below them as they shivered before hiding behind the side of the chariot. The Titans were much more scary than the two small devils had originally thought and they dreaded this day for quite sometime.

"Who put you don't there?" Hades continued.

" **ZEUS!** " The Titans answered.

Hades then stretched out his arms and used his powers to break the electrical cage, which caused him some pain, but he simply done his best to ignore it as he continued to his new army, "And now that I set you free, what is the first thing you are _going to do?_ "

" _ **Destroy HIM!**_ " The Titans said in unison, breaking free.

"Good answer." Hades said with a smirk, as he is about to conjour the entire universe(Multiverse).

* * *

The Rock Titan, having two heads, stomped their way through, causing massive Earthquakes once the Titans reached land and began to wreck havoc as they had done centuries ago. " **Crush Zeus!** "

" **Freeze him!** " The Ice Titan sneered, blowing a powerful blizzard wind which froze a herd of horses that tried to escape but were unfortunately frozen solid.

The Fire Titan melted his way through, creating lava flows throughout the area, bellowing, " **Melt Zeus!** "

The Air Titan, being a giant tornado, blew his way through while taking out houses and a goat as he went, " **Blow him AWAY!** "

The Titans continued to make their way towards Mount Olympus to exact their revenge on the God who kept them imprisoned for many years from what they did best to the world that rightfully belonged to them.

"Uh, guys?" Hades called out, making the Titans stop as he jerked a thumb over his shoulder at Mount Olympus behind him, "Olympus would be that way."

The Titans were briefly dumbfounded as they realised they'd been going in the completely wrong direction. So they changed course and headed towards the right way this time. Though Hades made his way towards the weakest Titan, a giant Cyclops as he knew that the guy would be the right job for one more little thing so he had absolutely nothing to worry about what so ever.

"Hold it, bright eye." Hades began which got the Cyclop's attention, "I have a special job for you, my optic friend."

* * *

At Mount Olympus, a sudden small tremor and angered growls awoke Hermes from his nap. Wondering what in the wide world woke him up, Hermes put his shades back on as he had taken them off to sleep, and his eyes widened in sheer horror as familiar giants were rampaging the land of the mortal world below, and even worse...

They were heading straight towards Olympus!

" **Destroy Zeus!** " The Rock Titan shouted.

"Oh, we're in trouble! Oh, big trouble! I gotta-" Hermes cried out as he quickly zoomed up towards the main area where both Zeus and Hera were relaxing, but when he arrived and told them the terrible news, the two became shocked and horrified as well.

"My lord and lady, the Titans have escaped," Hermes said in distress, "And THEY'RE PRACTICALLY AT OUR GATES!"

"Sound the alarm!" Zeus reacted quickly, deciding that he'd worry how those blasted things had escaped later, shouting his orders as he knew what had to be done...again. "Sound the alarm! Launch an immediate counter-attack! Go! Go!"

"Gone, babe." Hermes replied as he zoomed off again, grabbing a horn as he went and made the emergancy signal to the rest of the Gods and Goddesses who all heard the distress signal.

Getting the hint, weapons were quickly made, including Zeus's Thunderbolts. The other Gods immediately leaped into battle under Ares's command while the Titans began to climb their way up the mountain. Zeus, at his own power, threw his Thunderbolts at the Rocket Titan's heads which pushed him back a few feet, but he kept going. Unfortunately, at the same time, the Wind-Titan roared as he sucked in the attacking Gods and rendering them powerless into it.

"You wind bag!" Mars growled as he and his fellow gods were captured.

"Boom, badda-boom, boom, boom! Hah!" Hades cheered as he watched on. This was a lot more better than he ever imagined. It amazed him at just how easily the other pathetic gods had been defeated in a short time and not having even attacked yet.

* * *

Meanwhile in Thebes, everyone in town were running and screaming for their lives as a giant monsterous Cyclops stormed through the city, destroying it as he went.

" **Hercules! Where are you!?** " Cyclops roared, picking up one of the buildings and smashed it onto the ground as he did, looking for Hercules and under Hades's orders...kill him so that Hercules would never get his strength back and thus never get in Hades' way again.

"What can we go!?" The skinny woman cried out hysterically as she and her group were hiding in the fountain, in fear.

"Where's Hercules, or Zack or Mickey?" The large man trembled.

"Yeah!" The old man said as he stood near the statue of Hercules which was immediately destroyed by Cyclops, but the old man was unharmed, "Hercules'll save us!"

" **HERCULES! COME OUT! FACE ME!** " Cyclops roared again, continuing to rampage the city.

Near the entrance of the Stadium, Hercules, Meg, Zack and Mickey watched on in sheer horror at the sight of a giant, and retrospect, very ugly Cyclops destroying the city, searching for Hercules to kill him.

"Oh, this is not good!" Mickey moaned. Sure he'd overcome his fear of giants long ago, but that didn't mean he wasn't scared of all of them anymore. As he had learned, they were like normal people; some were good and some were evil and thus, still terrifying. The giant Cyclops was one of those evil and terrifying ones that made him very nervous, and nauesous in the stomach as the thought of being eaten by that guy destroying Thebes nearly made him frozen in fear.

"Dear Holy...How we gonna stop that thing?" Zack asked. Sure he and his friends had fought large monsters before ever since Hercules defeated Hydra...but now that Hades had taken away his friend's strength and had no doubt sent the giant Cyclops out to take Hercules' out, Zack was beginning to have his doubts. He was torn.

Hercules just sighed. He may not have his strength, but he couldn't let the people down. They counted on him. So, with a final resolve, he began to descend the stairs, much to the other three's shock.

"Herc, are you crazy!?" Zack cried out, grabbing Hercules by the arm to stop him. "This is not a good time to do this!"

"I have to do this." Hercules replied somberly, "It's the only way."

"You can't fight that thing now!" Mickey added as he grabbed Hercules' left hand.

Meg stood in front of Hercules to stop him as well as she agreed with the others, "They're right! Without your strength, you'll be killed!"

"There are worse things." Hercules simply told her as he freed himself from all three of them and continued on. He loved Meg, and she'd been using him from the beginning. Besides, what was the point of living anymore now when both of his goals had died in one day? He would have to count on Zack to continue his legacy.

"Wait, stop!" Meg cried out.

"Hercules, don't do this!" Mickey pleaded.

"What are you doing!?" Zack cried out, pleading, "Stop! Come back!"

But Hercules kept going. At the rate this was going, they were all doomed and he was dooming himself to his death. Zack couldn't just abandon him like this! If only he'd been faster to stop Hades from getting to him. Making up his mind, even though he knew he was about to go into a battle that he had no chance of winning either, Zack nodded to himself and began to rush after Hercules to join him in the battle of death.

"Hey! Where ya' goin'!?" Mickey cried out as he and Meg saw what Zack was doing.

Zack paused as he replied quickly, "I know this is a stupid idea, but I'm not gonna let Hercules get killed out there!"

Mickey hesitated. As much as the very idea of failing in this battle haunted him, he couldn't just leave Zack or Hercules behind. Despite this, it seemed pretty clear that things wasn't going to end well today. Finally after a few seconds, his conscience won and hurried by Zack's side just as the swordsman made to take off again.

"Hold on!" Mickey called out, "I'll go with ya'!"

"What? No, it's too dan-"

"Zack!" Mickey cuts him off, firmly. "No matter what happens, I'm gonna be there right next to ya' and Hercules! I'm not abandoning any of my friends!" ' _Not again...now after what happened to Ven, Aqua, Serenity, Jason, Grovyle, Wise Ansem, and even Terra, though I never met him._ ' He added to himself in his mind.

Despite that he didn't want to lose Mickey, Zack realised that his friend had no intentions of leaving anyone behind unless there wasn't much of a choice. Despite that today was the apocalypse, at least the two of them and Hercules would die fighting. With a nod, and ignoring Meg's protests, Zack and Mickey hurried to catch up to Hercules to join him in what they thought would be their final battle.

"Hey, look!" The large man cried out in relief, "It's Hercules!" seeing their hero approach, which Cyclops heard this and turned around.

"Thank the gods!" The red-haired woman cheered in relief, "We're saved!"

Though their relief would be short-lived as Cyclops stomped towards the weakened Hercules and bend down to him, mockingly saying to the now weakened hero, " **So...you mighty Hercules.** "

Cyclops then laughed before swiping Hercules away as though he was just a fly. Hercules was sent flying...right into Zack and Mickey just as the two arrived and had cried out in alarm as they were hit and quickly all three of them flew right into a mosiac of Hercules. The three of them grunted in pain as they all felt something break in their bodies, but none more so than Hercules. The people in the fountain all cringed as this before sinking lower, unable to watch.

As Mickey quickly used Curaga to heal himself and his two friends, they were already faced with Cyclops again, and while he and Zack stood up as quickly as they could while bringing out their weapons, Hercules could only stand up slowly and he was shocked that his friends had come to his aid. Why they would do this? They were just going to get killed alongside him.

Surely enough, they fought Cyclops, but despite the giant monster rechieving cuts and slashs and magic attacks from Zack's sword and Mickey's Keyblade...things were not looking good.

* * *

Meg watched helplessly as she saw the first attack, before she heard a familiar horse sound coming from the stables. Suddenly realising who it was, she raced into the shack and saw that Pegasus was tied up, due to Pain and Panic having caught him off-guard.

She immediately attempted to free him, but Pegasus wanted nothing to do with her.

"Easy, horsefeathers!" Meg said soothly, "Whoa, stop twitching! Listen. Ah!Hercules, Zack and Mickey are in trouble. Zack and Mickey are trying their best to help, but Hercules is in real trouble!"

As soon as she said this, Pegasus froze and stopped from trying to get away from Meg. Hercules and the others were in trouble. "We gotta find Phil, he's the only one who can talk some sense into him." Meg told him as she finally freed Pegasus from the ropes.

Hearing that Phil was missing, Pegasus knew what to do. So he grabbed Meg by the collor and threw her onto his back before taking running out of the stadium and took flight, with Meg screaming hysterically as she hanged on for dear life. She really didn't like heights, but at the moment as they desperately searched for Phil, her fear dimmed and vanished. Her mind merely focused on finding the satyr and saving Hercules, Zack and Mickey before it was too late.

* * *

Back up Mount Olympus, things were not going well at all, as dark clouds covered the sky, indicating that darkness was starting to take over Olympus Coliseum and if things weren't dealt with soon, the world would be consumed in darkness before Hades would move on to conjour the rest of the Realm of Light within the month.

"Get back, blast you!" Zeus shouted as he flung another Thunderbolt. But the Titans were coming too close for Zeus to have enough time to power up more Thunderbolts.

The Rock Titan then created a giant boulder and tossed it to smash the gates open which would give all of the Titans access to victory.

"Ooh!" Hades flinched at the power of the Rock Titan. That was a bit of an over-kill. "Chihuahua."

" **Zeus!** " The Rock Titan roared, darkly.

* * *

Meawhile, At a dock to a boat that'd head for Phil's island, Phil was about to get on as a great storm brew, and the boat threatened to leave without him.

"Phil!" A familiar voice called out, and Phil turned to see angrily see that Meg was on Pegasus as the two had finally found him before he left, as she cried out, "Phil, Hercules needs your help!"

"What does he need me for, when he's got friends like you? And about what Zack and Mickey?" Phil asked angrily. He knew he didn't trust Meg and was not in the mood for her guilt-riddenness.

"He won't listen to me!" Meg explained.

"Good!" Phil shouted back, "He's finally learned something!" and made to leave again when Pegasus snorted angrily when the horse appeared in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Look, I know what I did was wrong, but this is about me, it's about him." Meg pleaded, "If you don't help them now, Phil, they'll die!"

Phil's eyes widened in shock when he heard this. He may have thought Hercules as a Grade-A chump, Zack as a relentness hyper puppy, and Mickey as a short-sized adventurer, but the three of them were his friends, and Phil couldn't risk in having either of them dying. In that instant, he knew what he had to do.

* * *

"I need more Thunderbolts!" Zeus called out.

"Uh, Hephaestus has been captured, my Lord. Everyone's been captured." Hermes informed quickly with a salute. It was true, because in that instant, Pain and Panic caught him by the arms and carried him away. "Yah, I've been captured! Hey, hey! Watch the glasses!"

Before Zeus could to anything, all of the sudden, the Titans of Fire and Ice appeared and moulted lava and blizzard that captured him, encasting Zeus into stone, and what he heard next sent him in rage and betrayal.

"Zeusy, I'm home!" Hades called out tentatively as he walked out from almost nowhere and smirked.

Zeus saw him in his chariot above, and growled angrily while his shoulders were encasted, "Hades! You're behind this!?"

"You are correct, sir!" Hades said with a mocking salute.

* * *

Cyclops was having the full advantage on Hercules, Mickey and Zack as the trio were failing miserably in this fight. First Cyclops grabbed Mickey who struggled to free himself, before he was tossed onto the ground where the poor mouse King crashed into a cart and ended up losing his Keyblade which dismissed itself. Mickey felt such agony that he struggled to push himself up. His clothes were slightly tattered, and even struggled to summon his Keyblade on time.

Secondly, Cyclops grabbed Zack by his ankle where the young swordsman was hanging in the air before dropping him 200 feet from the air where the young man crashed into another cart, where he ended up dropping his sword that clattered onto the ground and only had enough strength to lie on his back in the now battered cart, having a rip on his shirt, and small three cuts on his left upper arm as he breathed heavily.

Thirdly, Cyclops was beating up Hercules as though he were just a ball, before having him on his knee where the giant monster then flicked him like an insect, causing Hercules to crash into the wall before he collasped onto another old cart, in the middle where both Mickey and Zack where, so the three of them were close together. Hercules had a slight black eye, his clothes tattered, and was now more weak than ever. He felt like he could barely move at this point. It looked like that this was the end of them, until...

"Guys!" Phil's voice came shouting.

The trio looked up to see Phil arriving on Pegasus with Meg, the satyr horrified at how badly hurt Hercules, Zack and Mickey were.

"Phil?" Hercules asked.

Mickey finally had some little strength to cast a weak Cure to at least strengthen himself, Zack and Hercules up as Phil cleaned them up with Pegasus and Meg's help.

"Are we glad to see you?" Zack weakly joked.

"Come on, kids, come on." Phil encouraged, "Fight back. Come on, you can take this bum-he's a pushover, look at him."

"Ow...E-easier said than done." Mickey admitted, never having felt so battered up before in his life.

Hercules could only sigh in dejection, "You were right all along, Phil. Dreams are for rookies." finally coming to accept defeat, as he thought back on what his old friend had told him seven years ago.

"No, no, no, no, kid, givin' up is for rookies." Phil countered. "I came back 'cause I'm not quittin' on ya. Look at Zack and Mickey! They stayed by you because they're not quittin' on ya. I'm willing to go the distance. They're willing to go the distance. How 'bout you?"

Hercules looked at Phil and then realised from Meg being there meant that she went to get him. Maybe she really did love him. That, and with Phil's words, and by Zack and Mickey being there with him during this fight, not to mention that the two of them, also touched by Phil's words, nodded in unison agreement. These were enough to get Hercules to stand up one more time. Just then Cyclops laughed as he grabbed Hercules, Mickey and Zack.

" **Me bite off heads!** " Cyclops said triumphantly as he raised the trio, but not before Zack grabbed his sword again, Mickey managing to pull one arm free and summon his Keyblade, and finally Hercules grabbing a plank of burning wood that was on a roof top as they passed. All at the same time, Zack slashed at the corner of the eye, Mickey casted a Thunder Spell and Hercules flung the wood right into the Cyclop's eye, causing him to scream and drop the trio who landed safely in a hay-stack.

"Whoa, bay-bee!" Phil cheered from the sidelines.

Thinking quickly, Hercules and his two friends grabbed some rope and while Mickey and Zack both slashed at Cyclop's legs that made him pin together, Hercules rushed around and between the Cyclops' legs tying them up. With a great tumble, Cyclops tripped and lost his balance and fell over a cliffside to his death with a loud thud. But his landing made a pillar crack loose as Hercules saw this while hearing a cracking sound.

"Hercules!" Mickey and Zack cried out, trying to reach him but they were too far.

Fortunately, Meg was closer and she immediately rushed over, crying out, "HERCULES! LOOK OUT!" and pushed him right out of the way. Unfortunately...it fell right on top of her, crushing her ribs, much to everyone's horror.

"Meg! Noooo!" Hercules screamed. Even though he knew it was hopeless, he rushed over to her and tried to pick up the pillar when suddenly, much to his and his friends' stunned disbelief, bit by bit, the boulder seemed less heavy as an orange glow covered his body and suddenly, miraculously, he picked it up, while he stopped glowing.

"Wha-what just happened?" Zack stuttered in disbelief.

"How'd you-?" Mickey blinked, astonded.

Meg, only managing to lie on her back as she felt so crushed, she was quickly running out of energy, as she managed to answer weakly, "H-Hades' deal is broken. He promised I wouldn't get hurt."

So that's what happened. Still, it was shocking enough that Meg had just sacrificed herself to save Hercules. He rushed over to her side, gently picking her up as he couldn't understand why she did this, "Meg. Why-why did you...you didn't have to-"

"Oh, people always do crazy things...when they're in love." Meg smiled, weakly.

"Oh...Meg. Meg, I-I-" Hercules began, trying to apologise for being really harsh on her.

But she gently cuts him off, "Are you...always this articulate?" and that made Hercules weakly smile, remembering the first time they met when he saved her from the Centuar. "You-you haven't got much time. You can still stop Hades."

Phil pushed a rock to have Meg's head rest on, as he told Hercules assuringly, having come to forgive her and now wanted nothing more than to have Meg live, more than anything. Had it not for her, Phil would've been unaware and Hercules, Zack and Mickey would've died. "I'll watch her over, kid."

"You're gonna be alright. I promise." Hercules told Meg calmly.

He then stood and made to get onto Pegasus when he felt Zack's hand clamp onto him. When Hercules turned to his friend, Zack told him with a look of firm determination, "I'm goin' with you. I've been waiting for seven years to put Hades in his place, and more than anything, I want to help you, as a friend."

"Me too." Mickey added as he walked up to the two men, having a similiar look to Zack's. "We're in this together, Herc'. Helping others always come before asking others for help. As I always say; All for one, one for all!"

Hercules was stunned and touched by his friends' words. With a nod of graditude, he said, "Thanks, guys." pulling out his sword, as did Zack, and Mickey summoned his Keyblade.

The three weapons were then held up in the air and like the three Musketeers, the two swords and one Keyblade's tips touched to symbolize their goal and their friendship. Hercules, Zack and Mickey then leaped onto Pegasus's back and the four of them flew off towards Mount Olympus to stop Hades' little game that had gone overtime.

"Let's go, Pegasus!" Hercules called out.

* * *

At Mount Olympus, Hades watched as Pain and Panic were having the time of their lives bossing around the captured Gods who were in black chains, and forced to march slowly to their prison.

"Hup, two, three, four, come on, everybody!" Pain grunted like a general, "I can't HEAR YOU!" he screamed into Hermes' ear while the said god's glasses was now worn by Panic.

"Oh, ah!" Hermes groaned.

Hades then turned his attention to Zeus who continued to glare at him angrily as Zeus's new prison almost encasted him completely. "I swear to you, Hades, when I get out of this-" he was cut off when the mound finally covered his head and buried him completely in the mound of rock.

"I'm the one giving orders now, bolt boy." Hades said darkly as he materialized his new dark throne, before materializing a drink, adding to himself, "And I think I'm gonna like it here."

"Don't get too comfortable, Hades!" Zack's voice called out, which caused Hades to almost choke himself as he gasped in shock.

"Your stay's been denied!" Mickey added, as Hades turned around to see not only Zack and Mickey, but also Hercules, all on that stupid flying horse of the latter's.

"Hercules! And young mortals!" Ares called out in sheer relief.

"This oughta even the odds!" Hercules declared as he, Zack and Mickey all cut (or in Mickey's cause, used the Keyblade's unlocking power to unlock the locks) the chains and shattering them into pieces, much to Hades's shock and horror. He then realised that it made sense on how they were alive and Hercules' familiar strength. Apparently Meg had been stupid enough to get herself hurt which allowed Hercules to get his strength back and with Zack's and Mickey's help, defeat Cyclops.

He needed new minions.

"Yeah, Hercules, a swordsman and a Keybearer!" Hermes cheered while beating up Pain and Panic while retrieving his glasses, "Thank you, fellas!"

"GET THEM!" Hades shouted to the Titans. The Fire Titan went to breath molten lava, but thanks to Zack's quick thinking in having Hercules steer Pegasus to the right, they and Mickey managed to escape unharmed and the lava instead covered Hades who cried out in alarm, "Whoa, hey!" and while he was a god, it felt more like sticky mud as he was made of fire himself.

"No, get them! Not me! Them!" Hades instructed again.

This time the Ice Titan blew a gust of blizzard at the group, though Mickey counter-attacked with Firaga to block most of it from his, Zack's, Hercules' and Pegasus's path before the group dodged to the left and escaped while the Ice Titan continued to try and catch them.

"Follow the fingers! Them!" Hades pointed at the group, only for the blizzard of ice and snow cover him and froze him into the pointing position, turning him into a godcicle, before he grunted in sheer annoyance, "The yutz, with the mosquito, mouse and horse."

"Serves ya' right!" Mickey taunted to Hades with a smirk.

"Herc, you free your father! We'll keep the bad guys busy!" Zack told him quickly.

"Got it!" Hercules nodded, jumping off Pegasus and onto the mound where Zeus was trapped in. With his strength, he pried it open with his bare hands, freeing his father who was glad to see him. Hades screamed out in horror as he freed himself from the ice while bursting into flames as he did so. Those brats were ruining everything!

"Thank you, my boy." Zeus smiled warmly at his son, being this close in contact for the first time ever.

Pegasus then chased after Pain and Panic, while Pain cried out innocently, "Nice horsey!" before he and his friend were caught by their tails by the horse, before the pink devil continued, "My intentions were pure! I really was attracted to you!"

Pegasus made a face that looked like, ' _Yeah, right_ ' and began punching them with his front legs like punching bags while also hitting them onto the ground several times, laughing as he went. Mickey meanwhile used his speed and agility to dodge the Fire Titan while casting a combination of his Blizzard Spells to freeze some parts of it's body and then shot out Orbs of Light right into it's eyes, blinding it briefly. Zack leaped out of the way of the blizzard from the Ice Titan and then with the help of rocks and pillars, leaped up into the air and with a battle cry, sliced off it's left arm before landing on the ground safely.

Zeus then told Hephaestus to throw more Thunderbolts at him and as the God caught them, Zeus laughed as he told Hercules with a smirk, "Hah! Now, watch your old man work!"

" **Uh-oh.** " The Rock Titan muttered, worriedly as the god turned to them, and immediately lost it's two heads when Zeus fired two Thunderbolts right at it. Seeing how the battle was starting to become bad for the giants, fearing for the same thing could happen to them by either Mickey, Zack or Zeus, the Titans start to retreat.

"Guys, get your titanic rears in gear and kick some Olympian butt!" Hades snapped, unaware that Mickey snuck up behind him and casted a small wind spell to blow his hair out which made it disappear before quickly retreating before he is caught. Feeling a cold patch on his head, Hades asked, dumbfounded, "Whoa, is my hair out?"

Pegasus, seeing this, laughed hysterically at the scene.

Zack was about to approach Hercules when his eyes widened in horror as the Wind Titan was coming up to him. "Herc', behind you!"

Hercules, hearing and feeling strong winds, quickly turned and grabbed the Wind Titan from the tail, and with his strength and grunting, he used it to swallow all of the other Titans. He then began spinning the three Titans around and around before letting them go. They flew into the air and exploded harmlessly, defeated and destroyed for good, sent into the Underworld.

"Hah!" Zeus cheered with a laugh.

"Whoo-hoo!" Hercules cheered as he gave a high-five to his father, before doing the same to both Zack and Mickey as they approached and cheered as well.

"Hot-Dog!" Mickey cheered happily.

"Oh yeah!" Zack cheered.

"Thanks a ton, Wonder-Trio!" Hades growled sarcastically, which made Hercules and his friends quickly turn to see him leaving and glared angrily at the god. But as they made to get onto Pegasus and chase after him, Hades could sense a life force in Greece, in Thebes to be exact, draining away. "But at least I've got one swell consolation prize-a friend of yours who's _dying_ to see me!"

That made the four of them stop short in horrified realization at what Hades was talking about.

"Meg!" Hercules gasped.

"We gotta hurry!" Mickey cried out, desperately.

"Let's go!" Zack cried out, fearing that they might be too late.

* * *

Back at the site where Cyclops had died, Phil held onto Meg's hand. She was gasping for breath, and now Phil took back every bad thing he'd ever said about Meg. When it came down to it, she really did love Hercules.

()()()()()()()()()()

Seeing Meg's life slip away, the Fates were preparing to end her life. Clotho held up Meg's string of life...

()()()()()()()()()()

Hercules and his friends tried to make Pegasus go faster and faster as they desperate tried to make it back to Meg to save her. Unfortunately...

()()()()()()()()()

Atropos edged the scissors closer and closer to the string of life...before cutting it cleanly into two.

()()()()()()()()()

Mickey suddenly gasped, as did Zack, as the two of then suddenly sensed a life and light instantly slip away. No...

Phil's eyes widened as Meg's hand fell limp, as did her head, cold and deathly still. Phil's heart ached at the sudden loss. This was going to break Hercules' heart.

A second later, Hercules, Zack, Mickey and Pegasus came back and the three young warriors leaped off, Hercules daring to step closer, muttering, "Meg..."

Phil turned to face him, shaking his head, as Meg's eyes were closed and she wasn't breathing. Those alone were enough that, in utter heart-break, she was dead. Hercules collasped beside her body, and cradled it, sobbing, "Meg, no."

"We were too late..." Mickey muttered, unable to take his eyes off Meg's dead body. It made feel so cold, so shaken, and so utterly devastated. If only they'd known and gotten here sooner...Now he'd just lost another friend.

"No..." Zack likewise, collasped onto his knees, unable to believe what just happened. Lowering his head, he began to cry his heart out, tears falling freely, before screaming in devastation, "Damn you, Hades!"

Finally, sorrow had won out and as Mickey's tears fell free, he was unable to hold back a choking sob and began to cry, burying his eyes with his hands, crying so hard for the first time in years. It never changed. Losing a friend or a family member was always too heart-breaking. Pegasus whimpered in sheer sorrow, ached by Meg's death.

Hercules layed Meg's body back onto the rock and buried his face into his arms into a silent sob of utter loss. Phil went up to him, tears falling freely, as he told him in a choaked voice, "Oh, I'm sorry, kid. There's some things you just can't change."

"Yes, I can." Hercules said, sorrowed and angered, as he thought of only one way to save Meg now. He was taking the fight to the monster that started all this trouble.

When Mickey and Zack both heard this, the two looked at him, before thinking of the same idea and glanced at each other, before nodding in firm agreement. On this day, wherever Hercules went, they would follow, in order to rescue Meg and bring her back to life.

* * *

In the Underworld at Hades' domain, Hades screamed out in anger that there was an explosion of fire. He was furious.

"WE WERE SO CLOSE!" Hades shouted again, as he ended up burning up almost everything and nearly burnt off Pain and Panic's horns while the said two cowered in fear. Hades in the meantime sat onto his throne, and continued, " So close! We tripped at the finish line-why? Because our little _nut_ Meg has to go all  noble."

Just then, there was tremor that rocked the chamber, along with a loud cracking that echoed in unison along side large footsteps. In an instant, Cerberus smashed through the wall. On top of the middle one's head, were Hercules, Zack and Mickey who all glared down angrily at the Lord of the Dead.

"Alright, you!" Mickey began, angrily. "You've got some explain' to do!"

"You're not getting away this time, Hades!" Zack added, angrily.

"Where's Meg?" Hercules demanded, angrily.

"Oh, look who's here." Hades said with a sneer, "Wonder-Trio. You guys are too much." as Hercules and his friends hopped off Cerberus as the middle head lowered them to the ground.

"Let, her, go." Hercules grunted as he gripped Hades by the shirt.

"Get a grip." Hades said, as he pulled Hercules' hands off him.

"He already did, and he got you!" Zack grunted angrily.

"You'd better give Meg back, if you know what's good for ya'!" Mickey added.

Hades rolled his eyes, "Geez, hasn't anyone told you that patience is a virtue? Come here, come here. Let me show you around."

* * *

Hades led the trio to where all of the new souls went as Meg's soul, pale gray and transparent was twirling around a sort of green whirlpool. This was the River of Death of those who made a pact with Hades who said with a smirk, "Hmph. Well, well. It's a small Underworld after all, huh?"

"So many of them...all trapped here." Zack muttered in horror, upon seeing so many dead souls that came here to the Underworld. No wonder no one wants to die.

"Oh my gosh! Look!" Mickey cried out, pointing at a familiar soul that came back them. Hercules and Zack both looked and instantly saw Meg's soul drift by them.

"Meg!" Hercules cried out as he his hand in the water, and suddenly, it appeared to have aged fifty years. Once he pulled it out, his hand completely returned to normal. He and his friends stared in shock at what just happened.

"No, no, no. Mustn't touch." Hades smirked while shaking a finger. "You see, Meg's running with a new crowd these days, and not a very lively one at that."

Mickey and Zack both felt hopelessness once again begin to overwhelm them. Did that mean that Hercules had no chance in getting Meg back at all? Did that mean that they came here to the Underworld for nothing?

Hercules thought for a moment, and while he knew that he may never see his friends again and may never be with his loved ones, Meg included, he'd rather have her live. Thus, an idea came to his mind.

"You like making deals." Hercules told Hades calmly, voulenteering, "Take me in Meg's place." which horrified Mickey and Zack again.

"What!?" Mickey cried out, horrified.

"Herc, are you insane!?" Zack protested. One of his best friends was willing to sacrifice himself to save one of their friends?

"I have to do this." Hercules told them calmly. When they saw that he wasn't going to no for an answer, Mickey and Zack forced themselves to wisely back off, their hearts aching at renewed loss.

"Oh, well..." Hades thought, though he looked like he pretended to think, "The son of my hated rival trapped forever in the River of Death."

"Shut up, you!" Zack grunted angrily to Hades.

"Going once..." Hercules said with a smirk as he held up his index finger.

"Hmm...Is there a downside to this?" Hades wondered.

"Hades...!" Mickey warned, angrily.

"Going twice...!" Hercules continued.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay." Hades said quickly. "You get her out. She goes. You stay."

This was good enough for Hercules. He then gave a final saddened look to both Zack and Mickey and gave them each a hug, knowing that this was goodbye. Hercules then dove right in as he barely registered what Hades said, "Oh, you know what slipped my mind? You'll be dead before you can get to her. That's not a problem, is it?"

"What!?" Zack and Mickey exclaimed in horror.

"Should've told ya's that sooner, huh?" Hades said with a smirk.

The two were speechless. It was utterly hopeless. It was all hopless. Mickey and Zack could only gaze down to where Hercules had dove into, and could only watch on as their friend disappeared, now knowing that he would die before he could reach Meg. Instead, he would be joining her forever. Zack could only fall onto his knees again, and hugged Mickey who began to cry onto his shoulder, while Zack himself let loose tears of his town. Hades didn't borther with them at the moment. He'd worry about them later.

Hercules in the meantime, didn't care if he didn't hear Hades. He didn't care if he died. The only thing that mattered was getting to Meg. As he kept swimming in the river, he felt his body aging a decade every second.

()()()()()()()()

The Fates prepared Hercules' thread as they prepared to cut it...the Scissors edging closer and closer...

()()()()()()()()

Just as Hercules thought he was done for, he reached out for Meg's hand...

()()()()()()()()

...Just as Atropos made to cut Hercules' thread, it turned gold and glowed, and the scissor got a chip in it. The trio blinked in utter confusion and shock, as Atropos tried again, but was met with the same result that it actually bent the scissors.

"What's the matter with these scissors?" Lachesis asked.

"The thread won't cut!" Clotho said in shock.

The only for this to happen to happen to one of their scissors could only be...

()()()()()()()()

Mickey and Zack were still crying to the utter loss when a dim glow of golden light shined near them. This made the duo slowly stop crying and when they turned to see where the light was coming from, their eyes widened in sheer shock, disbelief and utter relief. Hercules' rapidly aged hand reached out to the ledge as it reverted back into it's original state, except it was glowing brightly so that his skin showed orange.

"Hercules?" Mickey asked, daring to hope.

"Could it be...!" Zack gapped, mouth hanging in shock.

Hades was also shocked, except he was, for the first time in many, many years, he was horrified. His mouth gapped open as well, as Hercules climbed up and stood, glowing brightly, and was holding Meg's soul in his arms, while Mickey and Zack let go of each other as the latter stood up as well, both of them staring in awe.

"This is-this is impossible!" Hades gapped, unable to believe what he was seeing. It couldn't be true! This had to be a nightmare! "You...you...you can't be alive, you'd have to be a-a-"

"A god?" Pain and Panic said in unison as they peaked from behind Hades in awe.

This was true. In the act of willing to sacrifice himself to save the woman that he loved, Hercules had finally discovered the meaning of what Zeus had told him. He listened to what his heart told him.

"Holy..." Zack whispered, stunned.

"Of course! That's it!" Mickey exclaimed in relief, "This is the act of being a true hero. Hercules had to look inside himself and listen to what his heart was telling him. It was the act of willing to sacrifice himself to save Meg." before turning to his now immortal friend, "Ya' did it!"

Zack, realising what this meant, was laughing happily, "Herc, you did it! Aw, you did it, man!"

Hercules smiled warmly at his friends, nodding his thanks, before turning to glare at Hades who went utterly nuts as the Lord of the Dead was screaming gibberish words, flaring up in fire that covered his body before receding, "Hercules, stop! You can't do this to me. You can't-"

Hercules just simply punched him in the face so hard that Hades' face went literally deep into his head, before walking off. Zack and Mickey both laughed at Hades' latest bad luck, before quickly going to join their friend back to the mortal world to revive Meg.

"Served you right, Hades. Nice new facial look." Zack smirked as he walked past.

"Ha-ha! S'long!" Mickey waved Hades a farewell as he walked past.

" _Fine, okay, listen._ " Hades managed to muffle, before he managed to shift his face back to normal and grimced. Whoa, that was the first time he had that sort of thing happen to him, and boy, that really hurt. "Okay, well, I deserved that. Herc, Herc, Herc! Can we talk? Y-your dad, he's a fun guy, right? So maybe you could put in a word with him and he'd kinda blow this whole thing off, y'know?"

He then held Meg's soul's head and nudged it towards Hercules', continuing, "Meg, Meg, talk to him, a little schmooze, or-"

Apparently, Hades crossed the line, as Hercules, with the help of Zack who used his sword, and Mickey who used his Keyblade, all punched and whacked Hades at the same time, sending him flying backwards as the Lord of the Dead screamed before landing into the River of Death. As Hades made to try and get out, the Souls of the Dead all began to clutch him and trying to drown him, despite the fact that he was immortal.

"Eew!" Hades groaned, trying to get the souls off him, "Get away from me! Don't touch me! Get your slimy souls off me! Ooh, ahhh!"

While Hercules, Zack and Mickey all left with Meg's soul to return home, Pain and Panic looked over the ledge at Hades struggling with the souls.

"He's not gonna be happy when he gets outta there!" Panic whimpered, worriedly.

"You mean, _if_ , he gets outta there." Pain pointed out with a smirk.

"Taxi!" Hades cried out from the river.

"If..." Panic repeated with a smirk, getting what his friend was getting. " _If_ is good."

"Taxi!" Hades groaned, as he was at last pulled down into the whirlpool by the souls as he cried out, echoing, "I don't feel so good, I feel a little _flushed!_ "

He then disappeared. But just because he was trapped in there, Hades' imprisonment wouldn't last long. He would be back. But for now...things would be in peace.

* * *

As the trio had returned to Thebes to where Phil and Pegasus were, the two were stunned to see Hercules glow and had actually managed to rescue Meg's soul. While Zack and Mickey backed up to join Phil and Pegasus's side to give the other two some space, Hercules laid Meg's soul back into her body. She then gasped a sharp breath and opened her eyes as life returned to her. Relief and happines filled up Hercules, Zack, Mickey, Phil and Pegasus as Meg looked up at Hercules, with a weak smile.

She was back. She had been revived.

"Wonderboy..." Meg began, "What-why did you-?"

"Huh. People always do crazy things...when they're in love." Hercules said with a smile as he helped Meg to stand.

Hercules and Meg were inches away from kissing when a bolt of lightning came down a cloud appears under their feet and whisks them up to Mount Olympus, where all the Gods, Zeus and Hera included, waited.

"Fellas?" Mickey cried out, hurrying after them.

"Hey, wait for us!" Zack called out as he did the same.

"Whoa! Hey, hey, hey! Whoo!" Phil cried out before he, Zack and Mickey were scooped up by Pegasus who flew after Hercules and Meg to the gates of the Coliseum, as the Gods welcomed them, and cheered on.

"Three cheers, for the Mighty Hercules, the young swordsman Zack and the Keyblade wielder Mickey!" Ares called out grandly.

"Oh, yeah! Flowers for everybody! Oh!" Hermes called out happily as he tossed flowers in every possible direction, one of them which Phil caught and then began to eat.

"I-I didn't we'd get credit too, especially since Hercules was the one who deserves it." Zack blushed, finding this credit overwhelming. He wasn't a true hero like his friend, and still had some work to do in becoming a hero.

"Aw, I think the gods know that you and I helped out Hercules and helped to save them from the Titans." Mickey smiled, while also overwhelmed by the credit.

"Maybe you're right...I'm just happy for Herc." Zack smiled.

Hercules smiled as he then gazed up at his birth parents, who were smiling warmly upon him. He then walked up towards them and smiled awkwardly.

"Hercules...we're so proud of you!" Hera said happily, almost into tears as she hugged her son for the first time in 18 years, and he hugged her in return.

"Mother..." Hercules said as he smiled. He waited for this exact moment for years. Zeus then clapped him on the shoulders and beamed proudly at him.

"Fine work, my boy! You've done it!" Zeus said, smiling. "You're a true hero."

"With the aid of your friends you cared so much who cared for you in return, you were willing to give your life to protect them and rescue this young woman." Hera said with a smiling gesture at Meg, Zack and Mickey.

"For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength...but by the strength of his heart." Zeus said as he continued to smile, and Hercules knew he'd waited for this moment even longer than Hercules had. "Now at last, my son, you can come home."

The gates opened, and Hercules saw the glory and splendor of Mount Olympus. The other gods then gathered around him and continued to cheer, congratulating him. Though while this was going on, at the bottom of the stairs, sadness seeped into Zack, Mickey and especially Meg. Now that Hercules had finally regained his Godhood, the time had come for them to say goodbye, as he had returned to where he belonged.

"Well...hah...I-I guess this is g-goodbye." Mickey quivered, wiping away a tear. While he was happy that Hercules had made it, he was sad that this would be the last time he'd see him.

Zack's feelings echoed Mickey's, as he sighed, "Yeah...that's that, I suppose." he said, sadly, as he began to walk away, along with Mickey. It was actually harder than he thought. But deep down, Zack knew that this day would come; the day when he would have to say goodbye to one of his best friends.

Meg likewise, turned to walk away. While it ached her heart to never see Hercules again, it was for the best. He finally returned home, and she knew...she couldn't be with him. Still, she managed to put on a brave face, and spoke in a quivering voice, "Congratulations, Wonderboy. You'll make one heck of a god."

When Hercules turned back to see that his friends and his true love were walking away, before realizing something. He'd have to make a decision, and seeing them leave made him sad. So, he turned to his parents, and began, "Father...this is the moment I've always dreamed of. But..."

He trailled off and walked over to Meg and the others, while taking her hands as the three of them paused, "A life without Meg, or my friends, even an immortal life, would be empty. I...I wish to stay in Greece with them. I finally know where I belong."

Meg smiled in realization and embraced Hercules who held her in his arms, and Zack smiled, though he and Mickey looked up at both Zeus and Hera who at first looked surprised, before realising that their son had grown up and as he had found a place he truly wanted to be, they both smiled in understanding. As they loved him, they would allow him to make his own choices, so the two turned back to the group and nodded in allowance. This was enough to make both Zack and Mickey smile in relief.

Meg and Hercules then kissed at long last as the latter's glow subsided, making him mortal once more. Mickey laughed happily while Zack and the rest of the Gods cheered.

"Whoo-hoo! Alright!" Zack whooped for his two friends.

"Hit it, ladies!" Hermes suddenly called out, happily, as the Muses, all glowing, appeared and began to sing.

" _~Gonna shout it from the mountaintops~_ " Calliope sang out, as Pegasus licked Hercules happily.

 _"~A star is born~"_

" _~It's a time for pulling out the stops!~_ " Thalia called out, while the God of Wine happily spilled wine all over the place.

 _"~A star is born~"_

Zack and Mickey both high-fived before bowing their respects to Zeus who happily clapped them both on the backs, congratulating them and that quickly made the three of them friends already. Meg and Pegasus both bonked heads together and now having become friends, while Phil greeted the beautiful Aphrodite who, adoring the way how he was charmingly smiling at her, kissed him.

 _"~Honey, hit us with a hallelu, That kid came shining through, Girl, sing the song, Come blow your horn, A star is born!~"_

After that, Hercules, Meg, Zack, Mickey and Phil who was pulled back and waved a goodbye to Aphrodite, rode on Pegasus and flew back to Thebes where they were greeted by the people of Greece and Hercules is quickly and happily reunited with his adoptive parents who hugged him tightly.

 _"~Come on, everybody shout out loud, A star is born! Just remember in the darkest hour, Within your heart's the power, For makin' you, A hero too~"_

"Oh boy!" Mickey cried out happily, pointing at the sky.

"Look!" Meg echoed in amazement.

"Whoa...!" Zack breathed, beaming a smile.

Everyone then looked up as in the sky as several new stars appeared in the constellation of...Hercules! When Phil saw this, his eyes widened in amazement and disbelief.

 _"~So don't lose hope, When you're folorn~"_

The large man called out happily, "That's Phil's boy!"

Phil teared up with an emotional smile. He couldn't believe it! His dream had finally come true!

"Aw c'mere, you!" Zack said with a smile, he and Hercules nudging their trainer and friend happily, Meg and Mickey hugging Phil happily and Pegasus giving the old goat-man a happy lick, and Hercules' adoptive parents gathered around as well.

 _"~Just keep your eyes, Upon the stars, Every night, A star is right in sight, A star is burning bright, A star is born, A star is born!~"_

* * *

The Muses in the meantime, completed the narration of the story and returned to their original positions at last. It was a happy ending for everyone...

Well...almost everyone.

Hades then suddenly appeared and glanced around in nothing but blackness, as he asked around in sheer annoyance while breaking the fourth wall, "What d'ya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of somethin' but me. I got nothin'. I'm here with nothin'. Anybody listenin'? It's like I'm- what am I, an echo or something?"

He then called out, which his voice echoed all around him, "Hello? Hello? Am I talking to, what? Hyperspace? Hello, it's me."

When he heard nothing, he groaned, "Ugh, nobody listens."

Oh, be quiet, Hades! It's the end of the story now, so quit complaining!

Anyway, well...that's the end for now.

* * *

 **A/N: The Secret Ending/Epilogue is up next! See you real soon!**


	7. EPILOGUE and SECRET ENDING

**Author's Note: Here's the final chapter, just as I promised! And it's finally finished. Happy 20th Disney Hercules Anniversary!**

 **I don't own Kingdom Hearts. It rightfully belongs to Disney and Square Enix. I don't even own Sailor Moon, Final Fantasy VII, Pokemon, Cardcaptors, or Shrek. They won't appear here, but they are mentioned. They belong to Toei, Square Enix, CLAMP, Nintendo/Pokemon Company and Dreamworks Studios.**

* * *

 **EPILOGUE: One Adventure Done, Another to Begin.**

 _Three days later..._

It's been three days since everything that's happened here in Olympus Coliseum. The world, along with the rest of the Realm of Light had been saved once again. Though while Mickey knew that Hades might return, the God of the Underworld wouldn't be causing massive serious trouble anytime soon. In those three days, he used that time to fully recover, and now, after declaring that he was going home to return to his hometown, the Keyblade Master nearly exited Thebes, preparing to transport himself back to Disney Town, when someone called out his name.

When Mickey turned around, to his surprise, it was Zack who rushed up to him before the young man stopped and panted, apparently having had to run so that he could at least talk to him for one last time for quite a long time. "Hey, uh, Mickey. Do you really have to go?" He asked, his tone with sadness.

While Mickey was sad to leave, he couldn't stay here forever. "Welp, I've got my other friends and family waitin'." He said, before adding quickly, "But don't worry, I'll come back to visit."

It did make Zack feel a little bit better, before he told him with a grin, "Come back when I'm a true hero too."

"Aw, gosh, Zack. You're already a hero." Mickey assured him, "You and I both helped Hercules and you've done a great deed too!" which made his friend blush a little.

"Yeah, well, I still got some work to do." Zack replied, squating again for a few moments before standing up straight, "At least Phil voulenteered to train me now. Can you believe it? We're gonna start in two days!"

Mickey laughed happily, "I knew that would happen." before his smile faded into a sad smile, "Well, guess I'd better get goin'."

"Take care, 'kay buddy?" Zack waved, while smiling sadly.

"You betcha!" Mickey promised, waving as he walked through Thebes' gates to find a secret spot to leave Olympus Coliseum behind for now to return home, "See ya real soon!"

While Mickey left Thebes and soon Olympus Coliseum behind to make his journey back to Disney Castle, and Zack headed back to his villa to visit Hercules and Meg as the two were about to go on a date, and Phil was still happily dreaming about the day when his dream finally came true and true to Zack's words, happily agreed to train Zack to become a true hero now that Hercules had gained his goals, and that everyone was being aware that Hades might show up again, little did Zack now that his own goals were about to go into a turn.

High up on a roof of a building, fully unaware to Zack, a ginger-haired man in a red leather coat, holding a long crimson sword, in an black and grey outfit fit for a modern-day soldier, watched on the scene below him, his blue eyes gleaming as he finally found who he was looking for.

"~Infinate in Mystery, is the Gift of the Goddess. We seek it thus, and take to the sky. Ripples form on the Water's surface. The wandering Soul knows no rest.~" He quoted to himself.

As Genesis watched Zack go deeper into the city, he smirked.

"In less then one year, Zack...your destiny is about to begin."

 **To Be Continued...  
In...  
KINGDOM HEARTS: CRISIS CORE.**

* * *

 **SECRET ENDING: Sceptile and Aqua's Whereabouts.**

 _Three and a half years later: During the events of "Sailor Moon Goes Far Far Away" and season 1 of "Sailor Dark Moon: 358/2 Days"..._

 _ **Realm of Light Time-1998-The Legendary Long Year; Present Day...**_

It had been a tremendous year so far, King Mickey thought. While he was aware of the events that the Sailor Team had gone through on Earth, such as Galaxia, the Star Cards, the evil teams such as Team Rocket, Team Aqua, Team Magma, Team Galactic, Team Cipher, Team Nappers and the Evil King, discovering two new worlds near Earth-the Pokemon World and the Fairy-Tale world, discovering this Universe, the events that led Sora, Riku and Kairi to get involved, and Mickey having had Donald and Goofy join Sora who had the Keyblade of Light, Mickey himself entering the Realm of Darkness to find the Keyblade of Darkness, and such.

But finding the Keyblade and meeting Riku were not the only things Mickey had encountered in the Realm of Darkness, but at the same time, were the only things, or rather, the only friends he'd still been unable to save.

So, after departure from Sakura, Madison, Kero and Riku and having saved the Sailor Team in Pallet Town, Mickey finally decided to pay his former mentor a visit on what he discovered so far. He wore the false Organization coat the mysterious DiZ gave him, Riku and Sakura in Castle Oblivion so that he wouldn't be detected by the mysterious Organization of these Nobodies. Thus far, Mickey concluded that the Nobodies are somewhat connected to the Heartless.

When he climbed up the familiar flights of stairs at the Mysterious Tower, King Mickey knocked on the familiar wooden door, before entering without waiting for an answer. He then stood smartly before the familiar elder man in the blue robe and starry hat, his grey beard and hair loose as usual.

"Master Yen Sid." Mickey greeted, bowing his respect.

"Mickey..." Yen Sid spoke, slightly surprised and relieved. "It's a relief that you are alright and back in the Realm of Light."

"Well, it wasn't easy in gettin' back, Master." Mickey admitted sheepishly, as he approached closer to the desk before stopping half-way. "Gosh, it wasn't even easy gettin' into the Realm of Darkness, either."

The powerful Sorcerer nodded, "Just as I suspected. Given that you are back safe and sound, I sensed that you had help of a young child who's powers matches yours."

Mickey nodded, "Yup. I had some help from Sakura Avalon. She's a young sorceress with Star Cards chosen by Clow Reed. She even helped protect Riku."

"The second chosen of Earth." Yen Sid thought correctly. He suspected that the successor of the late Sorcerer Clow Reed had something to do with Mickey's return.

"Well, actually, I could only use a little bit of my power to send my soul into the Realm of Light to talk to Sakura and Riku in a place called Castle Oblivion briefly." Mickey admitted.

He then shifted uncomfortably. What he was about to tell his former mentor next would make things a little more awkward.

Apparently, Yen Sid could sense it, because he gestured to Mickey, "Please explain what happened since our last meeting."

Mickey swallowed nervously, before going into details on his experience. How he waited in a world that was about to be swallowed up by darkness in order to enter the Realm of Darknes, how he ventured into the dark and scary place to find the Keyblade of Darkness while trying not to let the intensed loniness get the better of him, how he encountered someone familiar who'd been having a bit of trouble for the past decade, how the two got seperated when she sacrificed herself to protect Riku after they found the Kingdom Key-D Keyblade, how Mickey encountered a strange man from a world from the Realm of Twilight, how the mysterious DiZ saved him, how he met another familiar man and told the devastating news of the loss of another friend, how they met a replica of both Sailor Moon and her mother Queen Serenity, before being seperated from both of them and locked the Fragmentary Passage of the Realm of Darkness and Realm of Twilight, before Sakura's dreams and Power of Inner Stars helped Mickey to at least commuciate with her and Riku, the events that unfolded in Castle Oblivion, the adventures in the Houen Region before the departure, and eventually Mickey saved the Sailor Team just after their adventures in the Orange Islands.

Mickey then concluded his story of how he was investigating the mysterious Organization filled with strange Nobodies and how he decided to come here to learn a bit more about them since he knew Yen Sid would know more than he would, being the wisest.

"...So Aqua sacrificed herself to save Terra and has been trapped in the Realm of Darkness for nearly eleven years, while Sceptile made the similiar sacrifice to protect Princess Serena in New York on Earth. And as you said...Jason lost his life in the dark future before history was changed by their sons who continue to exist in our new time-line." Yen Sid commented, and even he was saddened by the loss of boy who had grown up in the future and had a son who was now the Piplup of Team Pokepals.

"An' like I said...I saw them, but at different locations at different times." Mickey repeated, struggling to hold in his emotions for having failing to save them _again_ in a span of ten and a half years.

"And this Replica of Queen Serenity and one of her daughters...did she tell you who her creator is?"

"Nope. Even Sailor Fake Moon didn't know who created her, but deep down, I know that even she has a heart." Mickey answered, "As far as Sceptile and I are concerned, it doesn't matter who made her. Ya' can't create a soul or a heart, right?"

Yen Sid nodded, "I agree. However, that may only be replicas to develop their own hearts and souls. I could wrong, but you never know."

"Ya' mean the Nobodies?" Mickey guessed as the conversation shifted to that what he wanted to ask anyway. He figured the Yen Sid sensed that they had to get to the point of the current situation that was going on right now. "I kinda figured that they're connected to the Heartless, but really...who are they?"

"No one." Was the answer.

"Huh?"

"That is why they are called Nobodies, because they do not exist at all. How they are come to be, I can only surmise that are somewhat pyshical souls. Ghosts, as you are more familiar with." Yen Sid explained.

"So they're kinda like folks in the Wasteland, you know, without hearts?" Mickey asked. Well, that explained why he couldn't sense hearts within the Organization when he briefly encountered a dim-witted one named Demyx who didn't see him and simply vanished.

"Without hearts, thus, without emotions." Yen Sid confirmed, "They are the empty shells of one who become a Heartless, left behind and begin to act with a will of it's own. The spirit that goes on even as the body fades from existance. Nobodies may seem to have feelings, but this is a ruse-they only pretend to have hearts."

Mickey blinked. So he'd been right. But still, it disturbed him greatly. So apparently you need a heart to even go to the Afterlife, or the Underworld.

"But why are the Nobodies that I've seen look like humans and wearing these kind of coats to protect themselves from Darkness?" Mickey asked again, while gesturing at the coat he was wearing.

"They are known as Organization XIII, Mickey." Yen Sid told him. "They are the higher, much more powerful group of Nobodies. I can only surmise that, as humans, they had powerful hearts and thus, hanging onto their memories, it allowed them to take on human form, and speak our language. Those who hearts a weaker, the Nobodies take on other forms, some more frightening and dangerous. The more common Nobodies are known as a Dusk, and the Organization controls all other Nobodies."

"That explains somethin'." Mickey thought with a serious expression. "It makes it worse when they're interested in Serena's sister, Kaylie, who is also Sailor Dark Moon, because of the darkness in her heart."

"Do the Sailor Team know about any of this?" Yen Sid questioned.

Mickey shook his head, "No. I didn't tell them anything about this because I don't want them to worry, or get involved in this mess when they don't have to. Besides, I made a promise to Sakura and Riku not to say anything, even when Sora, Donald and Goofy wake up and get their memories back." and what made it worse was that his two best friends he grew up with when they were children...had their memories of everything except for being with Sora lost. It still ached Mickey's heart to have happen, though he felt that certain memories were forcefully taken from his heart as well. He had no idea what it was, but he was fortunate enough to at least remember who his friends, Sora and the Sailor Team were at least.

"It probably for the best, as I sense that Sailor Moon and her friends are facing certain problems of their own." Yen Sid agreed with Mickey's decision.

"Aw gee..." Mickey sighed, "I was afraid you were gonna say that."

So it looked like Serena and her friends weren't going to get a complete break anytime soon.

"It cannot be helped, Mickey." Yen Sid told him wisely, understanding his former apprentince's dismay. "You know as well as I do while darkness exists in some hearts, it will be impossible to bring true peace."

"I guess you're right." Mickey muttered, worriedly. His master did have a good point. Evil came in many shapes, sizes and minds. He should know, because he had that experience of facing many villians, a few years after he graduated from collage.

"What do you intend to do, Mickey?" Yen Sid questioned after a few moments of silence.

"Well, I'm gonna keep on investigatin' on Organization XIII without getting caught, and maybe stop by to the Orre Region on Earth, the Fairytale world and Sora, Donald and Goofy to see how everybody's doin'. I gotta a feeling that whatever those Nobody fellas are up to, it can't be anything good. While I'm at it, maybe I can continue searchin' for Ven's heart, find out what happened to Terra, and see if there's a way to get Aqua and Sceptile out of the Realm of Darkness." Mickey explained.

"In response of the whereabouts of Aqua and Sceptile, you cannot tell Princess Serena, Sakura, Ash, Sora or Riku, or anyone else about them or what happened while you were in the Realm of Darkness." Yen Sid told him.

"W-why not?" Mickey asked, shocked. Okay, granted, he didn't want to put the whereabouts of two of his remaining friends onto the younger chosens' plate, but he didn't expect his master to forbid him from saying anything at all.

Yen Sid gazed at him sternly, as he answered, "Because as they are still young, and somewhat like you before you became a true Keyblade Master, they would attempt a suidical rescue that would lead into failure. And as you said, entering the Realm of Darkness is not an simplest task. It's for their own good, Mickey. Thus, I have no choice but to forbid you from speaking of their fates. Do I make myself clear?"

Mickey shrank back slightly, a little frightened by his master's tone. It'd been years since Yen Sid use that strict tone of voice, and it suddenly made Mickey feel like a fresh young apprentince all over again. He knew he couldn't say no, not to the man who taught him everything he knew, and to this day, he still didn't want to disappoint him. Besides which, now that he thought about it, Yen Sid was right. He couldn't put the lives of his new friends in serious danger. He had no idea how to get back into the Realm of Darkness or how to get back out. The Realm of Light already had more problems to worry about, both in this Multiverse and in the Solar Universe, and thus, it would be too much to put on his plate of future important missions.

Finally, with a gulp of hesitation, Mickey replied, "Yes, Master."

At Mickey's slightly frightened look, Yen Sid's expression softened a little. "I apologise for frightening you, Mickey. It may be a combination of relief and worry. As you entered the Realm of Darkness, I feared that you were lost forever. I do not wish for you to be erased, and I am fully aware that it is not easy to look out for newer generations younger than you. No one is perfect, so you can only do your best, whether it is by your decision or not."

"But...what if my best isn't enough?" Mickey asked, lowering his head. Despite that he helped in saving the Realm of Light more times than he can count, the failures of saving Aqua, Ven, Terra, Queen Serenity, Jason and Sceptile, and now Sailor Fake Moon, still hanged heavily in his heart. On top of that, he was gravely worried about Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, the Dark Moon Team and the Sailor Team. He didn't want to fail them again. But he wasn't the brightest of a Keyblade Master.

Yen Sid suddenly chuckled softly and knowingly, "As most would say in sort of statement of knowing, 'Welcome to my world'."

That made Mickey smile a little, immediately remembering that he wasn't the easiest of being the first and only apprentince of the Sorcerer before him. Not to mention that it also made him remember of the times when Phil had slightly a hard time in training Hercules when the true hero had been an eleven year old boy.

"Welp, I'd better get goin'." Mickey finally said after another moment of silence. "I can't let anything bad happen while I'm investigatin'."

"Be on your guard, Mickey." Yen Sid advised.

The King nodded, "I will."

"May your Heart be your Guiding Key."

Mickey smiled at those words, and nodded, "I said that to Aqua, Fake Moon and Sceptile, ya'know. I'll remember that."

As he shared a fond farewell to his master for the time being, Mickey made his way down the stairs, as he repeated what his Master told him the first time they'd said goodbye all those years ago and what he had said in the Realm of Darkness.

"May our Hearts be our Guiding Keys."

 _ **RECONNECT  
SAILOR MOON:**_

 _ **SAILOR MOON GOES FAR FAR AWAY.  
SAILOR MOON'S ROYAL QUEST.  
SAILOR DARK MOON 358/2 DAYS.  
KINGDOM HEARTS: CRISIS CORE.  
SAILOR MOON SEASONS 10, 11 and 12.  
SAILOR MOON 0.2-A FRAGMENTARY PASSAGE.**_

* * *

 **A/N: I deem this story complete! I know that the secret ending was unexpected, but I didn't know what else to do and I felt it was important, even though it gave out spoilers. Thank you so much for sticking with this story and favoriting and following and reviewing as always!**

 **See you in my other stories, and May your Hearts by your Guiding Key.**


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